THE  celt;  , 

ABCyVE   f 

THE  SAXON 


« 


^^^msBsasmmm^^^'^ 


REM  C.J.  HERLII-re 


►^^aBBBBsaBBSsmiswjas 


mmsBmSim^i^^ 


iiliiiii 


liliiili  11 


BOSTON 

COLLEGE 

FACULTY 

'  LIBRARr 

CHESTNUT 

HILL,  IViASS. 

THE 

CELT  ABOVE  THE 

SAXON 


A     COMPAILA.Trv^E     SKETCH    OF     THE     IrISH 

AND  English  People  in  War, 

IN   Peace   and   in 

Character 


BY 


REV.   C.   J.    HERLIHY 


t 


Angel    Guardian    Press 

Publishers  and  Bookbinders 

Boston,    Mass. 


Copyright,  i<)04 

by 

ggv.  C.  J.  Herhhy 


uuz 


INDEX. 


PART  I. 

The  Celts  and  Anglo-Saxons  in  War. 

chapter.  pagb. 

I.  The    Celts. — A    Glance    at    Their 

Early  History i 

II.  The     Anglo-Saxons. — A     Word     on 

Their  Early  History.     ...        7 

III.  The  English  Conquest  OF  Ireland.     .       ij 

IV.  Irish  Victories  Over  the  English.    .       19 

V.  Victories  of  the  English  Over  the 

Irish. — A  Tale  of  English  Brutal- 
ity.          28 

VI.  Irish  Victories  Over  the  English  in 

Foreign  Lands 38 

VII.  The  Irish  and  English  Soldier  Com- 

pared.   ......      49 


INDEX. 


PART   II. 

Ireland  and  England  in  the  Arts  of  Peace. 

CHAPTER.  PAGE. 

I.  The  Poverty  of  the  Irish.         .         .61 

II.  Prosperity  of  England.     ...       84 

III.  Celtic  and  Saxon  Architecture  and 

Art 103 

IV.  The   Celt   and   the    Saxon   in   the 

Realms  of  Science.        .         .         .no 

V.  A  Comparative  Glance  at  Irish  and 

English  Literature.       .         .         -     123 

VI.  Celtic  and  Saxqn  Music  and  Poetry.     144 


INDEX. 


PART  III. 

Irish  and  English  Character. 

chapter.  page 

I.  General  Characteristics  of  the  Celt 

AND  THE  Saxon 163 

II.  Irish  and  English  Morality.     .  -  174 

III.  Alleged  Irish  Intemi»erance.     .  -  193 

IV.  Are  the  Irish  an  En\t:ous  Race?  .  204 

V.  English  Unscrupulousness.        .  -  -15 

VI.  The    Ever-Faithful    Isle    and    the 

Land  of  Infidelity.        .         .         -     230 

VII.  The  Future  of  the  Celt  and  the 

Saxon 256 


To 

DIVISION  53,  A.  O.  H., 

of  which  i  have  the  honor  to  be  the 

First  Chaplain, 

teis  little  volume  is  cordially 


DEDICATED, 


PREFACE. 

SINCE  the  English  conquest  of  Ireland  many- 
books  have  been  written  on  various  historical 
Anglo-Saxon  and  Celtic  subjects;  but  so  far 
as  we  are  aware,  no  author  has  yet  made  a  critical 
comparison  of  the  Irish  and  the  English  races,  their 
place  in  history,  their  achievements  in  war  and  peace, 
but  above  all,  their  character.  It  is  thus  that  we  can 
determine  which  is  the  superior  race.  It  is  not  al- 
ways the  race  that  is  most  successful  in  war  which  ex- 
cels; for  the  savage  Goths,  Huns,  and  Vandals,  once 
conquered  the  highly  civilized  Romans,  the  masters 
of  the  world.  But  what  most  determines  race  supe- 
riority is  grandeur  and  sublimity  of  character;  but 
in  every  respect  we  shall  find  that  the  Celtic  race  com- 
pares favorably  with  the  Anglo-Saxon. 

We  know  that  comparisons  are  odious;  but  we  do 
not  make  them  of  our  own  choice;  they  have  been 
thrust  upon  us.  For  a  long  time  the  haughty  English 
have  been  going  around  the  world  brow-beating  the 
weak  and  boasting  so  loudly  of  their  superiority  over 
other  races,  but  especially  the  Irish,  whom  they  look 
upon  as  an  inferior  race,  that  a  great  many  well- 
meaning  people  have  come  to  regard  it  as  a  fact. 

Before  the  late  Boer  War  knocked  some  of  the  con- 
ceit out  of  our  Enghsh  cousins,  they  imagined  that 
there  was  nothing  good  or  great  in  the  world  but  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race.  Whenever  anyone  performed  a 
heroic  deed,  immediately  they  deduced  the  inference 


that  he  must  be  ''English  you  know."  But  if  any- 
one was  ever  guilty  of  cowardice,  straightway  they 
formed  the  conclusion  that  there  could  not  have  been 
a  drop  of  English  blood  in  his  veins.  When  Admiral 
Dewey  sunk  the  Spanish  fleet  at  Manila,  they  even 
declared  that  his  success  was  due  to  English  sharp- 
shooters, who  manned  his  guns.  But  on  the  other 
hand,  when  the  French  ship,  Burgoyne,  went  down 
on  the  high  seas  and  the  panic-stricken  crew  did  not 
exhibit  remarkable  bravery  in  saving  the  passengers, 
again  the  Anglo-maniacs  shook  their  heads  and  said: 
''Such  a  state  of  things  could  never  happen  on  an 
Enghsh  vessel."  But  most  comical  of  all  was  a  little 
episode  that  happened  down  off  the  coast  of  Hull  a 
few  years  ago.  Nothing  can  better  illustrate  to  what 
absurd  extremes  Anglo-Saxon  race  pride  can  go.  An 
Irishman,  an  Italian,  and  a  Portuguese,  in  a  small 
boat,  set  out  in  a  raging  storm  to  rescue  a  drowning 
man;  and  by  great  heroism  succeeded  in  bringing 
him  safely  to  land.  But  in  the  evening  papers  the 
event  was  described  as  "A  remarkable  instance  of 
Anglo-Saxon  pluck  and  bravery." 

Yet  these  brave  rescuers  are  the  very  men  whom 
the  proud  Enghshman  looks  down  upon  with  contempt 
as  members  of  an  inferior  race.  Only  a  short  time 
ago  a  certain  EngUshman  flushed  with  wine,  at  a 
banquet  in  Boston,  pubHcly  made  the  statement  that 
"all  the  Irish  were  good  for  was  to  make  English 
domestics."  That  man  would  hardly  have  dared  to 
say  that  if  he  were  sober;  but  as  the  proverb  says: 
"In  vino  Veritas."  Yet  what  he  stated  so  bluntly  that 
night  is  the  opinion  of  a  great  many  other  English 
people,  if  they  only  had  the  courage  to  express  it. 


Not  only  Englishmen,  but  even  in  this  '^land  of 
the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave"  we  have  a  large 
number  of  Anglo-maniacs  who  have  the  very  same 
idea.  A  few  years  ago,  I  happened  to  go  over  one 
evening  to  Harvard  College,  to  hear  the  debate  be- 
tween the  students  of  Harvard  and  Yale.  The  sub- 
ject of  controversy  was  "Resolved  that  the  United 
States  should  grant  their  independence  to  the  Philip- 
pinos."  Harvard  had  the  negative  side  and  one  of 
her  debaters  was  a  colored  young  man,  who  was 
certainly  a  very  clever  speaker;  but  whether  he  owes 
his  cleverness  to  a  Uttle  drop  of  EngHsh  blood  in  his 
veins  or  not  I  cannot  say.  Whether  he  derived  his 
Anglo-maniac  ideas  from  that  source,  or  from  his 
school-books,  or  from  his  Alma  Mater,  which,  they 
say,  is  the  hot-bed  of  Anglo-mania,  I  do  not  know. 
But,  at  any  rate,  the  sum  and  substance  of  his  argu- 
ment was  that  the  Phihppinos  did  not  deserve  their 
independence,  because  they  did  not  belong  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race;  for  that  was  the  only  race  worth 
mentioning  that  had  ever  yet  Hved  upon  the  earth. 
Perhaps  the  shrewd  young  negro  was  only  *' playing  to 
the  galleries;"  but  he  certainly  gained  his  point;  for 
his  words  were  received  with  tremendous  applause 
from  the  Anglo-maniacs  present.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  his  side  won. 

But,  saddest  of  all  is  it  to  observe  these  Anglo- 
maniac  notions  creeping  in  gradually  among  some  of 
our  Irish-Americans  and  even  Irish  people  who  have 
lived  here  for  a  long  time.  Constant  environment 
seems  to  have  so  infected  them  with  this  fatal  microbe 
that  some  actually  become  ashamed  of  their  own 
race  and  religion;  and  others  go  so  far  as  to  change 


the  good  old  Irish  name  which  they  received  in  bap- 
tism, substituting  for  it  the  name  of  some  English 
persecutor  of  their  ancestors.  I  am  convinced,  there- 
fore, that  the  Cathohc  Church  in  America  has  lost 
more  adherents  on  the  score  of  nationaHty  than  of 
religion.  A  great  many  weak-minded  people  look 
upon  the  Cathohc  Church  and  the  Irish  as  one  and 
the  same.  But  as  they  regard  the  Irish  as  an  inferior 
race,  they  imagine,  that  by  renouncing  Catholicity 
they  will  be  with  the  dominant  party.  In  America 
everybody  wants  to  be  with  the  winners. 

It  is  high  time,  therefore,  that  we  accept  the  chal- 
lenge and  make  a  real,  impartial  comparison  between 
the  Celtic  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  races,  so  as  to  dis- 
illusionise those  unfortunates  whose  eyes  have  been 
dazzled  by  the  glare  of  Anglo-mania.  If  our  efforts 
contribute  even  in  a  small  way  to  strengthen  the  weak 
spirit  of  any  Celtic  readers  who  may  be  wavering  in 
their  fidehty  to  faith  or  fatherland,  our  labor  will 
not  be  in  vain;  for  we  shall  have  conferred  a  benefit 
not  only  on  the  Irish  race  but  on  the  Cathohc  Church 
also. 

However,  it  is  not  at  all  our  intention  to  offend  the 
good,  honest,  plain  people  of  England,  who  are  the 
friends  of  Ireland  and  many  of  them  the  descendants 
of  Irishmen.  Some  of  our  very  best  friends  are 
English  and  as  they  are  very  estimable  people,  we 
should  not  for  the  world  say  a  word  to  offend  them. 
A\Tiatever  reflections  therefore  we  may  cast  upon  the 
English  are  not  intended  for  them  but  for  the  English 
Lords  and  privileged  classes  who  are  the  common 
enemies  of  Ireland  and  of  their  own  race  as  well. 

It  may  be  well  to  state  also  that  whilst  endeavoring 


to  correct  the  abnormal  pride  of  the  Saxon,  it  is  far 
from  our  desire  to  give  the  Celt  an  overweening  idea 
of  his  own  importance.  Celts  as  well  as  Saxons  must 
remember  that  themselves  are  not  the  only  great 
people  who  ever  lived  on  the  earth.  There  are  other 
races  just  as  great.  God  never  intended  to  give  one 
race  a  monopoly  of  all  the  brain,  all  the  brawn,  all 
the  virtues,  all  the  perfections,  and  all  the  accomplish- 
ments in  the  world.  Hence  some  races  excel  in  one 
point,  others  in  another. 

Our  purpose  therefore  is,  whilst  criticising  the 
weaknesses  and  faults  both  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  and 
the  Celts  to  point  out  to  each  the  good  qualities  of  the 
other,  so  that  they  may  respect  each  other  and  dwell 
together  as  good  friends  and  neighbors.  In  the 
words  of  the  late  John  Boyle  O'Reilly: 

"Indian  and  Negro,  Saxon,  and  Celt,  Teuton,  and 
Latin  and  Gall, 

Mere  surface  shadows  and  sunshine ;  while  the  sound- 
ing unifies  all. 

One  love,  one  hope,  one  duty  theirs;  no  matter  the 
time  or  kin, 

There  never  was  separate  heart-beat  in  all  the  race* 
of  men." 


INTRODUCTION. 


ON  the  eighth  anniversary  of  our  elevation  to  the 
holy  priesthood,  it  gives  us  great  pleasure  to  in- 
troduce to  our  readers  our  first  pubHcation  en- 
titled ''The  Celt  Above  the  Saxon."  As  this  is  our 
initial  effort  in  the  field  of  literature,  we  crave  the 
indulgence  of  the  public  for  the  many  errors  and  im- 
perfections which,  no  doubt,  appear  in  these  pages. 
As  these  lines  were  penned  hastily,  at  widely  separated 
intervals,  during  the  few  leisure  moments  snatched 
now  and  then  from  the  active  work  of  the  ministry, 
in  a  busy  city  parish,  we  make  no  pretence  to  any  ex- 
cellence in  literary  style  or  poHsh.  Neither  do  we 
make  any  claim  to  any  remarkable  originaUty  of 
thought  or  research.  The  facts  indeed  are  the  same 
as  of  old;  the  only  thing  original  is  the  plan.  As  the 
florist  out  of  the  very  same  flowers  makes  an  infinite 
variety  of  floral  designs,  so  have  we  endeavored  from 
the  old  trite  facts  to  design  a  new  literary  work.  As 
far  as  we  know,  no  other  author  has  ever  yet  followed 
out  the  same  identical  plan.  The  first  part  of  this 
little  work  is  a  comparative  sketch  of  the  Irish  and 
English  in  war;  the  second  part  is  a  comparison  be- 
tween the  two  races  in  the  arts  of  peace;  and  the 
third  part  is  mainly  a  contrast  between  them  in 
character. 

It  may  interest  the  reader  to  know  how  we  happened 
to  start  this  Httle  book.  It  was  from  the  perusal  of 
a  book  entitled :    * '  The  Priests  and  People  of  Ireland , ' 

Yii 


which  vilely  slanders  our  race  and  praises  the  English 
to  the  sky.  But  worse  still,  the  author  of  this  scur- 
rilous attack  on  his  countrymen  is  himself  a  degenerate 
Irishman  by  the  name  of  Michael  McCarthy.  It 
was  mainly  to  refute  his  calumnies  that  these  lines 
were  penned. 

It  was  perfectly  natural  therefore  that  we  should 
laud  the  virtues  and  perfections  of  the  Celts  and 
demonstrate  how  far  superior  they  are  in  almost  every 
respect  to  the  Anglo-Saxons.  Nevertheless,  we  have  en- 
deavored also  to  be  as  fair,  as  impartial,  and  as 
charitable  as  possible  to  our  EngHsh  cousins.  If  at 
times  our  language  may  appear  too  severe  in  denun- 
ciation of  England,  it  is  because,  like  a  great  many 
of  our  countrymen,  we  consider  her  the  author  of  all 
the  evils  of  our  native  land;  because  we  hold  her  re- 
sponsible for  driving  us  from  the  home  of  our  child- 
hood to  a  land  of  exile;  and  because  we  saw  so  many 
exhibitions  of  her  tyranny  in  our  youth.  Such  con- 
siderations naturally  fill  the  heart  with  feelings  of 
bitterness  and  indignation  which,  even  with  all  the 
graces  of  Holy  Orders,  it  is  very  hard  to  repress.  Yet 
we  have  striven  to  relate  only  the  plain  truth,  not  to 
exaggerate  anything,  and  to  be  as  moderate  in  our 
expressions  as  possible.  Still  we  have  no  doubt 
whatever  that  if  a  man  were  to  write  a  book  like  this 
in  any  country  in  the  world  beneath  the  English  flag 
he  would  be  cast  into  prison  for  life.  But  the  arm 
of  the  tyrant  is  paralysed  in  this  land  of  the  free,  where 
we  enjoy  the  privilege  of  free  speech. 

In  the  composition  of  this  little  publication  we  are 
greatly  indebted  to  ''The  History  of  Ireland,"  by 
Sullivan,  "The  Handbook  of  English  History,"  by 


Guest,  "  Ireland  and  Her  Story,"  by  Justin  McCarthy, 
"Ancient  Irish  Schools  and  Scholars,"  by  Bishop 
Healey,  "Catholic  and  Protestant  Countries  Com- 
pared," by  Father  Young,  C.  S.  P.,  "The  Dictionary 
of  Statistics,"  by  Mulhall,  "The  Prose  and  Poetry 
of  Ireland,"  by  Murray,  "The  Irish  Sketch  Book  " 
by  Thackeray,  and  many  other  reference  books  in  a 
minor  degree. 


IX 


PART   I. 


THE    CELT 
ABOVE  THE  SAXON 


CHAPTER  I. 
The  Celts.— a  Glance  at  Their  Early  History. 

THE  words  Saxon  and  Celt  are  generic  terms 
and  have  frequently  a  very  wide  signification. 
Authors  often  use  the  proper  name  Saxon  to 
designate  not  only  the  inhabitants  of  England  but 
also  those  of  Germany  and  Scandinavia.  So  likewise 
they  include  in  the  Celtic  race  not  only  the  people  of 
Ireland  but  also  those  of  northern  France,  the  High- 
lands of  Scotland,  and  a  portion  of  Italy.  How- 
ever, we  shall  always  employ  these  appellations  in 
their  restricted  sense  to  signify  only  the  Irish  and 
English. 

Like  most  other  nations,  the  early  inhabitants  of 
Ireland  were  not  of  one  race;  they  were  a  composite 
nationality  composed  of  three  distinct  races  that  came 
to  the  island  in  three  successive  waves  of  emigration. 
Where  the  earliest  settlers  came  from  seems  clouded 
in  obscurity.  The  next  band  of  colonizers  are  sup- 
posed to  have  come  at  a  very  remote  period  from  the 
land  of  ancient  Greece,  and  indeed  this  seems  not  at 
all  improbable,  for  in  spite  of  all  their  persecutions 
by  the  English  of  later  times,  are  not  many  of  the 


BOSTON   COLLEGE 

FACULTY  LIBRARY 


2  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Irish  the  same  brilliant,  witty,  generous,  warm- 
hearted, imaginative  sort  of  people  as  the  citizens  of 
ancient  Greece?  Moreover,  anyone  who  is  at  all 
acquainted  with  Irish  and  Greek  cannot  fail  to  observe 
how  much  the  Gaelic  tongue  resembles  the  beautiful 
language  of  Homer  and  Xenophon. 

The  last  race  of  early  Irish  settlers,  called  Milesians, 
after  their  great  leader  Milesius,  came  from  the  east 
by  way  of  Spain.  There  are  many  circumstances 
that  seem  to  confirm  this.  As  the  celebrated  Irish 
statesman  and  historian,  Justin  McCarthy,  has  well 
said:  "The  Irish  are  evidently  of  an  oriental  origin, 
being  fond  of  out-door  life,  like  all  people  beneath  the 
sunny  skies  of  the  East  and  using  their  cottage  chiefly 
as  a  sleeping-place." 

The  exact  location  of  our  Milesian  ancestors'  orig- 
inal home  in  the  east  it  is  now  impossible  to  deter- 
mine; but  it  is  generally  supposed  to  have  been  in 
Phoenicia,  a  country  adjacent  to  the  Holy  Land. 
There  are  many  circumstances  which  seem  to  indicate 
this.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Phoenicians  were 
amongst  the  earliest  and  most  famous  navigators 
and  traders  known  to  the  antique  world,  and  were 
always  wandering  in  search  of  new  homes,  and  found- 
ing new  colonies.  Between  the  nineteenth  and  thir- 
teenth century  before  Christ,  they  estabhshed  many 
colonies  along  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean;  and 
are  believed  to  have  finally  made  their  abode  in 
Ireland. 

All  the  traditions  of  our  forefathers  appear  to  con- 
firm   this    hypothesis.     According    to    an    old    Irish 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  3 

legend,  during  their  wanderings  in  the  East,  our 
Milesian  ancestors  met  the  great  Jewish  law-giver, 
Moses,  who  miraculously  cured  one  of  their  number 
of  the  bite  of  a  serpent  and  predicted  that  his  descend- 
ants would  one  day  inhabit  a  country  in  which  no 
venomous  reptile  could  live.  Every  one  knows  that 
this  land  of  prophecy  is  Ireland. 

There  is  only  one  fault  wdth  which  we  can  reproach 
our  Milesian  progenitors — they  won  Ireland  by  the 
sword.  Yet  how  different  was  their  conquest  from 
that  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  of  later  times!  They  did 
not  come  with  any  hypocritical  pretence  of  reforming 
the  country,  like  the  Enghsh  of  a  subsequent  period, 
but  in  an  honest,  manly  way  to  gain  the  island  in  a 
square,  open  fight.  In  fact  their  conduct  to  the  earlier 
settlers  was  chivalry  itself.  These  claimed  that  the 
Milesians  by  coming  upon  them  so  suddenly  had 
taken  them  at  a  disadvantage,  and  as  they  had  no 
opportunity  to  be  prepared  to  receive  them,  it  w^ould 
)iot  be  fair  to  win  the  island  in  that  way.  They  stip- 
ulated therefore  that  the  Milesians  should  again 
betake  themselves  to  their  galleys,  withdraw  a  cer- 
tain distance  from  the  shore  and  then,  if  they  could 
effect  a  landing  the  second  time,  they  should  be  im- 
mediately recognized  as  the  absolute  masters  of  the 
whole  country. 

Like  generous  foes,  the  Milesians  consented  and 
having  effected  another  landing,  defeated  the  original 
settlers  in  a  great  battle  and  soon  gained  control  of 
the  whole  island.  But  though  victorious,  they  were 
very   magnanimous   to   their    defeated     adversaries, 


4  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

for  they  allowed  them  to  regulate  their  own  affairs 
and  to  enjoy  what  at  the  present  day  we  might  call 
Home  Rule.  Where  is  the  Englishman  who  would 
treat  his  opponent  with  so  much  generosity? 

It  is  impossible  to  determine  the  exact  date  on 
which  the  Milesians  settled  in  Ireland.  But  as  bib- 
lical commentators  state  that  Moses  lived  about 
fifteen  centuries  before  Christ,  and  as  the  Milesians 
did  not  set  out  on  their  wanderings  westward  until 
the  third  generation  after  the  famous  prediction  made 
to  them  by  the  great  Hebrew  leader,  they  are  supposed 
to  have  reached  Ireland  about  fourteen  hundred 
years  before  Christ.  To  our  modern  readers  this 
date  may  appear  entirely  too  remote;  but  everything 
ndicates  that  the  Milesian  dynasty  in  Ireland  goes 
back  to  a  very  early  period.  At  the  present  day,  our 
"English  cousins"  declare  that  the  Irish  are  incapable 
of  self-government,  yet  we  know  from  the  Irish 
chronicles  that  Ireland  had  an  excellent  government 
of  its  own  fifteen  hundred  years  before  the  Saxons  set 
foot  in  Britain,  when  according  to  the  testimony  of 
Guest,  one  of  their  own  historians,  they  were  no  better 
than  "sea-wolves  and  pirates."  In  fact  two  thousand 
years  before  an  English  parhament  was  dreamed  of, 
an  Irish  monarch  had  instituted  a  triennial  parlia- 
ment to  help  him  to  govern  the  kingdom. 

Ireland  also  made  great  advancement  in  civiliza- 
tion under  the  Milesian  dynasty.  At  the  present  day, 
after  eight  centuries  of  EngHsh  government,  agri- 
culture is  almost  the  only  industry  in  Ireland.  Yet, 
nearly  three  thousand  years  ago,  under  her  native 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  5 

kings,  Ireland  carried  on  a  thriving  industry  in  gold- 
mining,  smelting,  and  artistic  work  in  the  precious 
metals,  at  a  time  when  civilization  had  scarcely  dawned 
upon  other  European  countries.  Even  then  our  an- 
cestors knew  how  to  read  and  write;  and  their  bards 
had  cultivated  the  art  of  poetry  to  a  very  high  degree ; 
though  at  the  present  day,  after  centuries  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  enHghtenment,  the  Irish  people  are  reproached 
for  their  ignorance  and  illiteracy. 

But  as  every  tide  has  its  rise  and  its  fall  so  every 
country  has  its  day  of  glory  and  its  day  of  decay.  The 
period  immediately  preceding  the  coming  of  St.  Patrick 
to  Ireland  may  well  be  called  the  pre-Christian  golden 
age  of  Ireland's  glory.  These  were  the  days  when  the 
Irish  warrior  was  feared  not  only  in  England,  then  called 
Britain,  but  even  in  Italy  and  France.  It  is  well  known 
that  it  was  to  protect  themselves  from  the  Irish  that  the 
ancient  Britons,  to  their  sorrow,  invited  over  the 
Anglo-Saxons  to  help  them.  The  Roman  poet 
Claudian  also  relates  how  the  Irish  monarch,  Niall 
of  the  nine  hostages,  came  with  his  army  thundering 
into  France  in  the  fourth  century;  and  Theodosius 
the  Great,  then  Roman  Emperor,  sent  his  General 
Stellicho  against  him.  It  is  supposed  that  it  was 
this  Irish  king  who  carried  St.  Patrick  when  a  boy 
as  a  prisoner  to  Ireland  and  thus  paved  the  way  for 
the  subsequent  introduction  of  Christianity  into  Erin. 

Ireland's  military  renown  was  followed  by  three 
centuries  of  the  most  incomparable  religious  glory 
during  which   she  became  known  as  "the  island  of 


6  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

saints  and  scholars."  But  now  dark  clouds  began  to 
gather  over  Ireland.  The  kings  of  Ireland  began  to 
quarrel  among  themselves  and  it  was  the  ambition 
of  each  to  become  Ard-Ri  or  king  of  all  Ireland,  over 
all  the  others.  This  sad  state  of  things  continued 
for  hundreds  of  years. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Danes,  then  a  nation  of  pirates, 
like  the  Anglo-Saxons,  thought  they  would  take  ad- 
v^antage  of  the  civil  dissensions  in  Ireland  to  gain 
possession  of  the  country.  So  they  captured  several 
seaport  towns  and  overran  a  large  part  of  the  country, 
everywhere  plundering  and  destroying  churches  anrl 
monasteries.  Yet  they  were  never  able  to  give  a  king 
to  the  country;  for  in  the  eleventh  century,  a  great 
Irish  warrior,  King  Brian  Boru,  united  all  the  Irish 
factions  against  them  and  inflicted  upon  them  a  crush- 
ing defeat  at  the  Battle  of  Cloutorf. 

This  annihilated  the  power  of  the  Danes  in  Ire- 
land. But,  unfortunately,  as  Brian  Boru  himself 
was  killed  in  the  hour  or  victory,  the  civil  strife  still 
continued  in  Ireland  and  paved  the  way  a  little  later 
for  the  Saxon  conquest  of  the  country. 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Anglo-Saxons. — A  Word  on  Their    Early 
History. 

PEOPLE  who  are  unacquainted  with  history  have 
so  identified  the  words  EngHsh  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  that  they  seem  to  imagine  that  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  always  lived  in  England;  but  that  is  a  great 
mistake.  The  first  inhabitants  of  England  were  not 
English  at  all  but  a  Celtic  race  Hke  the  Irish,  called 
Britons,  from  whom  the  island  received  the  name  of 
Britain. 

These  Britons  were  once  a  brave  and  war-like  race 
and  for  a  long  time  they  resisted  the  arms  even  of  the 
Romans,  the  conquerors  of  the  world.  At  length, 
however,  they  had  to  yield  before  the  superior  genius 
of  Juhus  Caesar  and  other  Roman  generals.  Then 
the  Romans  disarmed  them  and  forbade  them  en- 
tirely the  use  of  military  weapons  for  hundreds  of 
years.  As  a  result  the  Britons  forgot  almost  entirely 
the  art  of  war  and,  when,  in  the  fifth  century  the 
Roman  legions  were  called  home  to  protect  their 
own  country,  the  Britons  were  no  longer  able  to  de- 
fend themselves  against  the  Irish  and  Scots.  Accord- 
ingly, in  an  evil  hour,  they  invited  in  the  Anglo-Saxons 
to  help  them. 

Up  to  this  time  not  a  single  Anglo-Saxon  had  ever 
settled  in  England.  The  Anglo-Saxons  were  then 
three  Germanic  tribes,  comprising  the  Angles,  the 


8  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Saxons,  and  the  Jutes;  who  lived  in  the  southern  part 
of  Denmark,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Elbe.  At  the 
present  day  their  English  descendants  may  boast  of 
their  race;  they  may  feel  proud  of  their  Anglo-Saxon 
origin,  they  may  consider  themselves  fine  ladies  and 
gentlemen;  and  some  of  them  may  style  themselves 
lords  and  duchesses;  but  let  them  not  vaunt  too  much 
of  their  ancestors;  for  as  Guest,  one  of  their  own 
historians,  says:  "At  that  time  they  hardly  deserved 
a  better  name  than  sea-wolves  and  pirates."  They 
maintained  themselves  then  as  they  have  done  ever 
since,  by  robbing  and  plundering  their  neighbors; 
and  they  were  accustomed  to  go  ravaging  and  pil- 
laging even  to  the  coasts  of  Britain. 

What  an  ally  then  for  the  Britons  to  call  to  their 
assistance  against  the  Irish  and  Scots!  The  poor 
Britons  were  soon  to  repent  of  their  terrible  mistake. 
The  Anglo-Saxon  came  as  a  guest;  but  before  long 
he  turned  his  arms  against  his  host,  under  the  pretext 
that  the  Britons  were  not  furnishing  him  sufficient 
supplies,  as  they  had  promised.  But  when  did  an 
Anglo-Saxon  ever  have  enough?  Whenever  he 
wanted  to  plunder  his  neighbor,  he  was  never  at  a  loss 
to  find  a  plausible  excuse,  even  to  the  present  day. 

Accordingly,  swords  were  drawn.  The  Britons 
and  the  Anglo-Saxons  met  in  a  great  battle  near 
London,  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century;  and 
of  course  the  Anglo-Saxons  were  victorious.  It  was 
rather  a  massacre  than  a  battle;  for,  as  already  ex- 
plained, during  the  Roman  occupation  the  Britons 
had  forgotten  almost  entirely  the  use  of  arms;  so  they 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  9 

were  like  a  poor  unarmed  man  held  up  at  night  by 
a  high-way  robber  with  his  pistol.  How  different 
was  the  Anglo-Saxon  conquest  of  Briton  from  the 
Milesian  conquest  of  Ireland!  Who  has  ever  heard 
of  the  Anglo-Saxons  betaking  themselves  once  more 
to  their  ships,  so  as  not  to  take  their  opponents  at  an 
unfair  advantage,  as  our  Milesian  ancestors  did  at 
their  conquest  of  Ireland?  Yet,  at  the  present  day, 
we  hear  a  great  deal  of  Anglo-Saxon  gallantry.  But 
where  was  their  gallantry  in  the  conquest  of  Britain  ? 
Where  was  the  gallantry  in  conquering  a  poor  dis- 
armed foe  that  had  not  handled  a  weapon  for  cen- 
turies? Where  was  their  gallantry  too,  after  the 
battle?  When  our  Milesian  ancestors  conquered 
Ireland,  they  gave  the  original  settlers  Home  Rule ;  but 
what  was  the  Home  Rule  which  the  Anglo-Saxons  gave 
to  the  Britons?  A  wholesale  slaughter.  The  only 
ones  that  escaped  were  those  who  fled  to  the  remotest 
part  of  the  island  in  Wales  or  Cornwall. 

Having  conquered  the  island,  the  Anglo-Saxons 
changed  the  very  name  of  the  country;  and  as  the 
Angles  were  the  largest  and  most  powerful  tribe  of 
the  conquerors,  they  gave  to  the  country  its  new  name 
of  Angle-land,  which  was  afterwards  changed  to 
England.  Their  next  step  was  to  divide  the  country 
into  seven  kingdoms,  each  kingdom  governed  by  a 
petty  king;  who  was  always  at  war  with  his  neighbor. 
At  the  present  day  our  English  cousins  ridicule  our 
Irish  forefathers,  because  at  one  time  in  such  a  small 
country  as  Ireland  they  had  actually  four  kings. 
But  it  is  well  to  remind  them  that  England  itself 


lo  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

was  once  divided  into  seven  petty  kingdoms.  The 
English  also  at  the  present  day  reproach  the  Irish 
because  they  say  they  are  continually  quarrelling 
among  themselves;  yet  they  should  remember  that 
one  time  these  seven  petty  Anglo-Saxon  kingdoms 
were  making  constant  war  on  one  another  for  four 
hundred  years.  Why  did  not  the  English  unite 
among  themselves  during  all  these  years?  Finally, 
they  united  it  is  true;  but  it  was  not  a  union 
of  hearts;  but  unity  brought  about  by  force  of  arms, 
after  one  king  of  the  heptarchy  had  thoroughly  crushed 
the  others  and  reduced  them  to  subjection  to  him. 

It  was  a  good  thing  for  the  English  that  they  were 
thus  united;  because  they  had  now  to  face  a  nation 
of  sea-wolves  and  pirates  even  worse  than  themselves. 
These  were  the  Danes.  We  have  seen  how  the  Danes 
put  forth  all  their  power  to  conquer  divided  Ireland, 
but  were  defeated  ignominiously  by  Brian  Boru.  Yet 
the  whole  power  of  united  England  was  not  sufficient 
to  withstand  these  same  Danes. 

Instead  of  engaging  them  in  honorable  battle,  as 
the  Irish  did,  one  English  monarch  gave  them  a  bribe 
of  ;£To,oor.  to  remain  away  from  him.  But,  having 
spent  the  money,  they  soon  came  back  and  demanded 
more.  So  then  this  brave  Anglo-Saxon  king  had 
resort  to  a  well-known  English  trick.  He  planned 
in  one  night  to  massacre  all  the  Danes  in  England. 
The  plot  succeeded,  but  soon  brought  its  own  retribu- 
tion. A  new  swarm  of  Danes  soon  returned  to  avenge 
their  murdered  kinsman;  the  English  were  com- 
pletely defeated;  and  the  Danes  became  masters  of 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  ii 

the  whole  kingdom.  However,  they  did  not  long 
enjoy  their  sovereignty;  because  very  soon  another 
race  of  robbers,  the  greatest  freebooters  of  ail,  in- 
vaded England  and  gained  the  mastery  over  both  the 
Anglo-Saxons  and  the  Danes.  These  were  the  Nor- 
mans, a  branch  of  the  Scandinavian  race  that  had 
settled  in  France  and  had  learned  from  their  French 
neighbors  the  mihtary  science  that  had  been  taught 
them  centuries  before  by  their  Roman  conquerors. 
These  three  great  races  of  marauders  now  combined 
to  make  up  the  English  race  as  it  exists  to-day. 

They  readily  coalesced,  because  they  were  all  of  the 
same  race,  and  religion  and  originally  came  from  very 
nearly  the  same  place.  Yet,  for  a  long  time  the  appel- 
lation by  which  the  Norman  conqueror  addressed  the 
conquered  race  was:  ''Dog  of  a  Saxon;"  and  it  was 
only  after  centuries  that  the  three  races  entirely  amal- 
gamated. In  fact,  even  to  this  day,  England  has  still 
her  Lords  and  Commons.  What  are  these  words 
but  other  terms  for  the  conquerors  and  the  conquered  ? 
No  doubt  many  English  lords  have  been  promoted 
from  the  Commons ;  but  nearly  all  are  the  descendants 
of  the  old  Norman  conquerors. 

Have  not  our  Enghsh  friends,  then,  much  reason 
to  be  proud  of  their  ancestors?  A  nation  of  robbers 
from  the  beginning,  England  has  not  ceased  to  plunder 
all  the  weaker  nations  of  the  world  even  to  the  present 
day.  Before  the  Normans  landed  in  England  at  all, 
poor  unfortunate  Wales  had  fallen  a  victim  to  Enghsh 
rapacity.  But  now  the  Anglo-Saxons,  Danes,  and 
Normans  all  united  into  one  nation  were  to  carry  on 


12  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

one  long  struggle  of  plunder  and  devastation  against 
poor  unfortunate  Ireland.  Either  of  these  robber 
races  singly  Ireland  might  easily  have  repelled.  We 
have  seen  how  united  Ireland  once  drove  the  Danes 
into  the  sea;  but  as  these  same  Danes  conquered 
England,  a  fortiori,  Ireland  could  conquer  the  Anglo- 
Saxons.  But  it  was  quite  a  diiTerent  thing  when  these 
three  robber  races  united  and  Ireland  was  divided 
against  herself.  Yet,  however  loudly  our  Anglo- 
Saxon  friends  may  boast  of  their  conquest  of  Ireland 
it  is  not  to  them  that  the  lion's  share  of  the  honor  or 
dishonor  goes,  but  to  the  Normans.  AA'hatever  may 
be  said  of  the  Normans,  they  were  certainly  great 
warriors;  they  possessed  the  most  improved  military 
weapons  and  were  well  versed  in  the  science  of  war. 
All  that  Ireland  could  present  against  them  was  the 
invincible  courage  of  her  sons  and  the  righteousness 
of  her  cause. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The    English    Conquest    of    Ireland. 

THERE  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  whatever  that 
the  modern  Englishman  has  a  supreme  con- 
tempt for  the  Irish  and  everything  that  is 
Irish.  Any  person  with  half  an  eye  can  see  that.  A 
short  time  ago  a  certain  Englishman  flushed  with 
wine  at  a  banquet  here  in  the  Athens  of  America 
publicly  declared  that  "the  Irish  were  fit  only  to  be 
hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water."  As  the 
proverb  says;  ''In  deUrio  Veritas."  That  is  exactly 
the  impression  of  most  Englishmen  if  they  only  had 
the  candor  to  acknowledge  it.  What  is  the  underlying 
cause  of  this  over- weening  sense  of  superiority  of  the 
EngHsh  over  the  Irish  race?  It  is  all  summed  up  in 
a  few  words — the  English  conquest  of  Ireland. 

Let  us  therefore  examine  and  see  what  claim  Eng- 
land has  to  any  honor  or  glory  from  the  conquest  of 
Ireland.  Indeed  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  see  an}- 
reason  why  England  should  wear  a  crown  of  laurels 
after  that  struggle.  In  all  manly  contests  among  fair- 
minded  people  there  is  an  unwritten  law  that  says: 
"Take  a  fellow  of  your  size;"  and  there  has  never  yet 
been  any  applause  for  the  man  that  defeated  an  op- 
ponent smaller  than  himself. 

Now  England  contains  50,000  square  miles;  Ireland 
comprises  about  30,000  square  miles;  that  makes 
England  nearly  twice  the  size  of  Ireland;  and  it  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  population  of  each 


t4  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

country  was  in  the  same  proportion.  Wherefore, 
according  to  the  most  elementary  laws  of  fair  play, 
where  is  the  glory  for  England  in  conquering  Ireland, 
an  island  only  half  its  size?  England  has  always 
been  very  courageous  in  attacking  weaker  nations;  but 
she  is  very  careful  not  to  attack  a  strong  power  unless 
she  has  another  powerful  nation  as  her  ally. 

But  even  though  far  superior  in  size  to  Ireland,  Eng- 
land would  never  have  conquered  her  if  she  had  not 
been  divided  against  herself.  As  the  gospel  says: 
''Every  kingdom  divided  against  itself  shall  fall."  So 
Ireland  fell;  but  if  she  had  only  been  united,  she 
would  have  driven  the  English  into  the  sea,  as  she 
hurled  the  Danes  more  than  a  century  before.  Where 
then  is  the  glory  for  England  in  conquering  disunited 
Ireland?  Truly  she  deserves  no  more  glory  than  a 
strong  healthy  man  who  overpowers  another  greatly 
inferior  to  him  in  size  and  with  one  arm  broken  and 
tied  up  in  a  shng. 

From  a  military  point  of  view,  therefore,  it  is  im- 
possible to  see  how  England  deserves  any  credit  or 
honor  for  having  conquered  Ireland.  Still  less  is 
she  entitled  to  any  glory  from  a  moral  point  of  view. 
On  the  contrary,  her  conquest  of  Ireland  is  the  darkest 
stain  in  her  character  and,  even  though  conquered, 
Ireland's  behavior  at  that  trying  period  is  the  brightest 
jewel  in  her  crown. 

Ireland  lost  her  independence  in  a  glorious  struggle 
for  virtue  and  morality,  in  chastising  a  wicked  king 
for  the  breach  of  his  marriage  vows.  This  was  Der- 
mott  McMurrogh,  who  eloped  with  the  wife  of  another 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  15 

Irish  prince  called  O'Ruarc.  If  this  had  happened 
in  ''merry  England"  it  would  have  provoked  only  a 
smile;  for  when  did  England  ever  expel  a  lord  or  a 
prince  for  immorality?  Yet  nobody  is  ignorant  of 
the  moral  standard  of  English  high  society  for  hun- 
dreds of  years. 

But  Ireland  did  not  thus  wink  at  the  crime  of 
McMurrogh.  As  old  Pagan  Rome,  to  her  eternal 
credit  be  it  said,  for  a  similar  offence,  expelled  even 
her  own  royal  family,  the  Tarquins;  so,  all  Ireland 
now  rose  up  against  McMurrogh  and  cried  out: 
"Away  with  him!     Away  with  him!" 

So  McMurrogh  was  expelled  from  Ireland  and  im- 
mediately fled  to  England,  to  seek  the  aid  of  the 
English  monarch,  in  order  to  regain  his  kingdom. 
King  Henry  II.,  who  then  sat  on  the  English  throne 
took  up  the  cause  of  the  adulterer  and  gave  him  a 
powerful  force  of  English  adventurers  to  accompany 
him  back  to  Ireland.  McMurrogh  secretly  hurried 
back  to  Ireland  before  them,  in  order  to  prepare  for 
their  landing.  By  feigning  repentance  for  his  crime 
and  pretending  that  his  only  desire  was  to  regain  his 
kingdom,  he  rallied  a  powerful  force  around  him  and 
thus  plunged  the  country  into  civil  war.  It  was  thus 
that  the  English  first  gained  a  foothold  in  Ireland; 
and  finally  conquered  that  kingdom. 

But  now  comes  the  question:  on  which  side  is  the 
glory  and  on  which  side  the  shame  in  this  conquest? 
Certainly  England  has  covered  herself  with  eternal 
disgrace  in  leaguing  herself  with  an  adulterer  and  a 
traitor  to  his  native  land-     Only  a  little  while  beforcy. 


1 6  THE  CELT  ABOVE  TJJE  SAXON 

that  pious  English  King,  Henry  II.,  so  bewailed  the 
excesses  committed  in  Ireland,  because  of  her  civil 
dissensions  that  he  is  said  to  have  obtained  from 
Pope  Adrian,  the  only  Englishman  that  ever  sat  in 
the  chair  of  Peter,  a  bull  authorizing  him  to  pacify 
the  island,  and  reform  the  abuses  that  were  creeping 
in  against  reHgion  and  morahty.  Now  behold  him 
unmasking  his  hypocrisy  in  allying  himself  with 
Dermott  McMurrogh,  the  off-scouring  of  Ireland! 

On  the  other  hand,  Ireland,  though  she  lost  her 
independence,  was  not  at  all  dishonored.  On  the 
contraiy,  she  covered  herself  with  glory;  for  was  it 
not  more  glorious  to  sacrifice  even  her  independence 
than  to  tolerate  such  a  monster  as  McMurrogh  within 
her  borders?^  Yet  if  she  had  tolerated  him  she  might 
have  remained  a  free  country  even  to  the  present  day. 
But  virtue  and  honor  are  better  than  even  liberty  and 
independence.  Well  therefore  has  our  national  poet, 
Thomas  More,  said: 

"On  our  side  are  virtue  and  Erin, 

On  their  side  are  Saxon   and    guilt." 

It  is  no  disgrace  to  Ireland  that  she  has  produced 
such  a  monster  as  Dermott  McMurrogh ;  for  have 
not  all  countries  given  birth  to  such  pests;  and  even 
America  has  had  her  Benedict  Arnold;  just  as  Greece 
had  her  Ephialtes,  and  Rome  her  Cataline? 

It  is  unfair  too,  to  infer  from  this  episode  that  the 
Irish  are  always  divided  and  quarrelling  among  them- 
selves. No  doubt  the  Irish  have  had  their  differences 
like  other  nations;  for  where  is  the  nation  that  at  some 
time  in  its  history  has  not  had  its  civil  dissensions? 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  17 

How  many  civil  wars  arose  among  the  Hebrews,  the 
Greeks,  and  the  Romans  of  old?  Everyone  who 
has  read  history  will  readily  recall  the  great  contests 
between  Hyrcanus  and  Aristobulus,  Marius  and 
Sulla,  Pompey  and  Cresar.  But  why  go  back  so  far, 
when  English  and  American  history  furnishes  us  with 
abundant  examples?  Besides  the  wars  between  the 
various  kingdoms  of  the  Heptarchy,  which  we  have 
already  mentioned,  was  there  not  a  civil  war  just  be- 
fore King  Henry  II. 's  reign  between  King  Stephen 
and  Matilda?  Certainly  he  must  have  been  very 
ungallant,  to  fight  with  a  woman.  It  is  only  an  Eng- 
lishman that  would  do  it.  Again  England  had  her 
Civil  War  of  the  Roses,  which  lasted  thirty  years. 
Besides  she  had  her  civil  wars  between  King  Charles 
I.  and  Cromwell  and  another  between  King  James  11. 
and  William  of  Orange.  If  a  powerful  foe  had  de- 
scended upon  England  during  these  intestine  troubles 
the  kingdom  was  doomed.  In  fact  some  English 
historians  claim  that  the  Normans  would  never  have 
conquered  England  if  there  had  not  been  a  civil  war 
going  on  just  before,  between  King  Harold  and  his 
brother,  Tostig.  But  with  such  a  record  how  can 
any  Englishman  point  the  finger  of  scorn  at  the  Irish 
and  say:  "You  Irish  are  always  quarrelHng  among 
yourselves  ?  "  Finally,  is  it  not  a  melancholy  fact  that 
even  our  own  beloved  America,  when  not  yet  a  century 
old  had  her  civil  war,  and  unity  could  not  be  restored 
until  one  part  of  the  nation  had  crushed  the  other 
into  a  pulp  ? 

How  then  can  we  blame  Ireland  for  her  domestic 


i8  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

quarrels?  Yet  though  divided  against  herself,  con- 
sider how  many  centuries  it  took  England  to  conquer 
her.  The  Normans  had  conquered  united  England 
in  one  year;  yet  it  took  them  five  hundred  years  to 
conquer  disunited  Ireland.  Ireland  was  not  com- 
pletely conquered  till  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  in 
the  sixteenth  century. 

But  in  the  meantime  she  dealt  England  many  a 
staggering  blow  and  defeated  her  best  armies  in  many 
a  pitched  battle;  though  usually  in  the  end  worn  out 
by  sheer  force  of  numbers.  Yet,  as  we  sometime 
meet  ignorant  Englishmen,  who  assert  that  the  Irish 
never  won  a  battle  and  that  they  cannot  fight  except 
when  they  are  under  ''cool-headed  EngUsh  generals," 
in  the  succeeding  chapter  w^e  shall  recount  at  least 
a  dozen  pitched  battles,  in  which  the  Irish  defeated 
the  English  on  the  soil  of  Erin. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Irish  Victories  Over  the  English. 

IN  order  to  get  a  graphic  account  of  the  many  vic- 
tories which  the  Irish  gained  over  the  EngHsh  it 
will  be  necessary  to  consult  a  regular  Irish  history 
such  as  Haverty's,  McGee's,  or  Sullivan's.  We  have 
chosen  to  follow  SulHvan's  because  it  is  the  latest  and  it 
was  written  for  American  readers.  According  to  this 
history,  the  English  met  with  many  a  disastrous  de- 
feat from  the  hands  of  the  Irish  from  their  very  first 
attempt  to  conquer  Ireland.  In  the  year  1172, 
Strongbow,  whom  Henry  II.  had  sent  over  to  Ireland 
at  the  head  of  the  English,  to  restore  McMurrogh  to 
his  kingdom,  met  with  a  signal  defeat  at  the  hands  of 
O'Brien,  prince  of  Munster,  and  was  cooped  up  in  a 
fortified  tower  in  Waterford.  Thereupon,  the  Irish 
rose  up  against  the  Normans  on  all  sides  and  if  there 
had  been  any  central  government  at  that  time  to  give 
unity  to  their  attack  they  would  have  driven  the  Eng- 
lish into  the  sea.  But,  as  the  Irish  lacked  simulta- 
neousness  of  action,  the  Norman  power  on  the  very 
point  of  extinction  was  allowed  slowly  to  recruit  it- 
self and  again  to  extend  its  power  at  a  favorable 
opportunity.  But  still  more  glorious  was  the  victory 
won  over  the  English  under  Lord  Maurice,  a  few 
years  later,  by  the  Irish  prince,  Godfrey  O'Donnell. 
The  English  were  greatly  superior  in  numbers  and 
were  accompanied  by  the  flower  of  all  the  Norman 


20  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

chivalry,  long  the  pride  of  England.  But  what  the 
Irish  lacked  in  numbers  was  compensated  for  by  the 
genius  of  their  general,  who  w-as  one  of  the  greatest 
commanders  of  the  age.  The  two  armies  met  near 
Sligo  and  the  battle  raged  all  day.  It  vain  the  mail- 
clad  squadrons  of  England  dashed  upon  the  Irish 
lines;  for  before  evening  nearly  all  these  lords,  earls, 
and  knights  had  been  made  to  bite  the  dust.  At  last 
the  English  commander  seeing,  that  in  spite  of  his 
overwhelming  odds,  his  case  was  getting  desperate, 
resolved  to  stake  everything  in  a  single  combat  with 
the  Irish  leader.  So  dashing  into  the  thickest  of 
the  fight  he  sought  out  Godfrey  O'Donnell  and  dealt 
him  a  deadly  wound;  but  the  Irish  chieftain  with 
one  blow  of  his  battle-axe  clove  the  Norman  general 
to  the  earth,  and  he  was  carried  senseless  off  the  field. 
The  English  immediately  fled  in  hopeless  confusion 
and  the  Irish  pursued  them  with  great  slaughter. 
Darkness  alone  saved  them  from  being  annihilated. 
Here  was  another  grand  opportunity  for  the  Irish  to 
have  driven  every  Anglo-Norman  from  their  country; 
but,  unfortunately  owing  to  their  disunion,  they  failed 
to  take  advantage  of  such  a  favorable  occasion. 

However,  about  the  commencement  of  the  four- 
teenth century  the  Irish  chieftains  at  last  began  to 
realize  that  it  was  high  time  to  put  away  their  civil 
dissensions  and  to  combine  against  the  common  foe. 
So  they  invited  over  a  force  of  six  thousand  Scotch 
auxiliaries  under  Edward  Bruce,  to  assist  them  in 
driving  the  English  from  their  soil.  The  Scotch  were 
only  too  willing  to  come  in  order  to  show  their  grati- 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXOX  21 

tilde  for  the  generous  aid  that  Ireland  gave  them 
to  win  their  independence  at  the  great  battle  of 
Bannockburn,  from  this  same  hated  English  foe.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  the  year  13 15,  the  alHed  army  met  their 
English  foes  under  Earl  Richard,  called  the  "Red 
Earl."  This  proud  Norman  had  boasted  that  in 
a  few  days  he  would  deliver  up  Edward  Bruce  dead 
or  alive  at  Dublin  Castle;  yet,  though  his  army  was 
greatly  superior  in  numbers,  he  was  completely  de- 
feated and  he  himself  was  glad  to  escape  with  his  life . 

In  the  following  year,  the  Scotch-Irish  army  gained 
another  great  victory  near  Kells  in  King's  County 
over  fifteen  thousand  Enghsh,  under  Sir  Roger  Mor- 
timer, by  a  strange  coincident,  the  namesake  of  our 
present  English  ambassador  to  the  United  States. 
Ireland  came  exceedingly  near  bursting  entirely  the 
shackles  of  England  and  regaining  her  ancient  in- 
dependence at  that  time.  Only  one  city  of  any  im- 
portance still  held  out  against  the  Scotch-Irish  army 
and  that  was  Dubhn.  It  was  impossible  to  capture 
it  for  lack  of  sieging  materials  and  the  absence  of  a 
fleet  that  would  cut  off  its  supplies  from  England. 

Worse  still,  one  of  these  periodical  famines,  owing 
to  the  failure  of  the  crops,  that  visit  Ireland  now 
fell  upon  the  country;  so  that  she  could  no  longer 
maintain  an  army  in  the  field.  As  a  result,  England 
with  all  her  resources  finally  conquered,  Bruce  was 
defeated  and  the  great  Scoto-Irish  confederation 
dissolved.  Irish  unity  melted  away  and  the  struggle 
against  England  during  the  next  two  centuries  was 
carried  on  only  by  isolated  Irish  chieftains. 


22  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

We  have  a  striking  illustration  of  this  during  the 
reign  of  King  Richard  II.  of  England.  It  is  really 
laughable  to  read  the  two  campaigns  which  that  mon- 
arch made  against  Art  McMurrogh,  the  prince  of 
Leinster.  Though  a  descendant  of  McMurrogh,  the 
traitor,  he  well  redeemed  the  name  of  his  ancestor. 
Though  he  had  only  three  thousand  men  against 
thirty  thousand  under  Richard  II.,  by  means  of  his 
labian  policy  he  made  that  poor  sovereign  as  ridicu- 
lous as  the  Greeks  made  "the  great  kings"  Darius 
and  Xerxes  at  Marathon  and  Salamis. 

Finally,  as  King  Richard  could  not  conquer  him  in 
the  open  field,  he  resorted  to  the  despicable  system 
of  warfare  practiced  by  England  even  to  the  present 
day;  he  actually  put  a  price  upon  his  head,  offering  a 
hundred  marks  in  pure  gold  to  the  person  who  should 
bring  to  him  in  Dublin  dead  of  alive  the  troublesome 
prince  of  Leinster. 

Yet  for  twenty  years  McMurrogh  met  and  defeated 
the  best  English  armies  under  the  ablest  English 
generals.  In  14  lo  with  a  force  of  ten  thousand  men 
he  fought  a  pitched  battle  against  the  Duke  of  Lan- 
caster, with  an  equal  number  of  English  soldiers  under 
the  very  walls  of  Dublin  and  the  English  were  defeated 
with  great  slaughter.  So  many  were  drowned  in 
trying  to  make  their  escape  across  the  River  Liffey 
that  this  portion  of  the  river  is  called  the  "ford  of 
slaughter"  even  to  the  present  day. 

The  next  great  struggle  for  liberty  which  the  Irish 
waged  against  England  occurred  in  the  time  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.     It  cannot  be  called  a  rebellion  against 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  2:, 

lawful  authority ;  for  it  was  an  outbreak  provoked  by 
England  herself  by  means  of  a  diabolical  plot,  for 
which  history  has  no  parallel. 

In  a  period  of  profound  peace,  Queen  Elizabeth 
feared  that  her  power  in  Ireland  would  never  be  on  a 
safe  footing  until  all  the  warlike  Irish  chieftains  had 
been  killed  off.  Accordingly,  she  ordered  her  com- 
mander-in-chief in  Ireland,  Sir  Francis  Cosby,  to  in- 
vite all  the  Irish  princes  to  a  grand  banquet;  but  no 
sooner  did  they  enter  the  banquet  hall  than  they  were 
set  upon  by  a  band  of  English  soldiers  who  had  been 
lying  in  ambush  and  massacred  almost  to  a  man.  Of 
the  four  hundred  who  had  accepted  the  invitation  only 
one  escaped  with  his  life.  This  man  very  wisely  had 
carried  his  sword  with  him  and  with  its  trusty  blade 
hewed  his  way  to  liberty. 

Naturally  this  act  of  English  treachery  set  the  hearts 
of  the  Irish  on  fire  to  avenge  their  murdered  country- 
men. So  they  fled  to  arms  under  the  command  of 
Hugh  O 'Byrne  whom  the  Enghsh  called:  "The 
Firebrand  of  the  Mountains;"  and  before  long  they 
made  the  Enghsh  pay  dearly  for  their  treachery,  in 
the  bloody  battle  of  Glenmalure,  in  the  year  1580. 

Lord  Grey  was  now  appointed  viceroy  of  Ireland 
and  sent  over  at  the  head  of  an  imposing  Enghsh 
army  to  crush  the  insurrection.  He  set  out  from 
Dublin  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  in  the  same  vain 
glorious  way  that  General  BuUer  lately  marched  forth 
against  the  gallant  Boers.  He  thought  only  of  ''hem- 
ming in  the  Irish."  So  he  constructed  a  strong 
earthwork  or  entrenchment  at  the  mouth  of  the  valley 


24  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

to  prevent  the  Irish  from  escaping.  Then  he  ad- 
vanced to  measure  swords  with  the  "Firebrand  of  the 
^Mountains."  In  the  meantime,  the  Irish  had  posted 
themselves  in  a  ravine  on  each  side  of  the  road  through 
which  the  EngHsh  marched,  and  not  a  sound  escaped 
them  until  their  foes  were  in  the  trap.  Then  all  at 
once  a  fierce  storm  of  bullets  burst  forth  upon  the  en- 
tangled English  legions;  and  like  a  torrent  from  the 
mountain  the  Irish  swept  down  upon  the  struggling 
mass  below.  Immediately  the  English  troops  were 
thrown  into  the  greatest  confusion,  then  were 
seized  with  a  panic  and  fled  in  the  greatest  disorder, 
many  perishing  in  the  very  intrenchments  which  they 
had  constructed  to  check  the  flight  of  the  Irish.  But 
of  all  the  brilliant  host  that  marched  out  of  Dublin  a 
few  days  before,  only  a  few  shattered  companies  now 
returned  to  tell  the  tale  of  disaster. 

But  a  few  years  after  this.  Queen  Elizabeth  had  a 
still  more  serious  outbreak  of  the  Irish  to  quell.  This 
was  the  rebellion  of  Hugh  Roe  O'Neil,  the  Earl  of 
Tyrone.  When  this  man  was  a  child  he  had  been 
taken  over  to  England  by  order  of  Queen  Elizabeth 
and  trained  up  at  her  own  royal  court  as  an  English- 
man; because  she  hoped  that  thus  he  might  become 
useful  afterwards  as  the  tool  of  England  in  fighting 
some  other  Irish  chieftain ;  and  in  this  way,  by  creating 
civil  dissensions  among  his  countrymen,  he  would 
render  easy  their  complete  conquest  by  England. 

But  when  O'Neil  arrived  at  the  age  of  manhood, 
went  back  to  his  native  land,  and  saw  how  his  people 
were  tyrannized  over  and  oppressed  by  the  English 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  25 

Government,  his  heart  was  stirred  within  him.  He 
found  that  though  his  education  was  English  his 
blood  was  Irish  and  blood  was  thicker  than  water. 

Accordingly,  he  built  up  a  powerful  confederacy  of 
Irish  chieftains;  unfurled  the  standard  of  rebellion 
and  gave  the  English  power  in  Ireland  such  a  shock 
as  it  had  not  experienced  for  four  hundred  years.  For 
ten  years  he  defied  the  whole  power  of  England  and 
in  several  pitched  battles  defeated  the  very  best 
generals  that  were  sent  against  him.  In  the  year 
1593  he  had  his  first  pitched  battle  with  the  English 
under  General  Norreys,  on  a  river-bank  near  the  city 
of  Monaghan.  Twice  the  EngHsh  tried  to  cross  the 
river  but  as  many  times  were  repulsed,  the  English 
general  himself  being  wounded.  As  a  last  resort  a 
chosen  body  of  English  cavalry  charged  desperately 
across  the  river  and  their  leader,  a  Goliath  in  stature, 
singling  out  O'Neil  engaged  him  in  single  combat; 
but  the  gigantic  Enghshman  pierced  by  his  opponent's 
sword  soon  lay  dying  upon  the  ground.  Then  the 
Irish  made  one  grand  charge  and  immediately  the 
Enghsh  fled  in  hopeless  confusion,  leaving  the  ground 
covered  with  their  dead  and,  worst  of  all,  leaving 
their  proud  English  banner  in  the  hands  of  the  Irish. 

Again,  in  the  year  1598  O'Neil  at  the  head  of  five 
thousand  Irish  troops  met  Sir  Henry  Bagnal  with 
six  thousand  English,  mostly  veteran  troops,  including 
five  hundred  knights  sheathed  in  armor  of  steel. 
These  two  armies  engaged  in  mortal  combat  on  the 
banks  of  the  River  Blackwater.  Here  O'Neil  brought 
into  play  the  strategy  that  he  had  learned  in  England. 


26  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Now  he  turned  it  against  his  instructors.  He  had 
some  deep  pits  constructed  in  front  of  his  lines  covered 
over  with  wattles  and  grass;  and  when  the  gallant 
chivalry  of  England  charged  upon  their  Irish  foes  they 
plunged  headlong  into  these  trenches  and  perished. 
This  unexpected  disaster  spread  a  fearful  panic 
through  the  whole  English  army  and  they  fled  in  all 
directions  before  the  furious  onslaught  of  the  Irish. 
The  English  army  was  almost  annihilated.  Three 
thousand  of  England's  bravest  were  left  dead  on  the 
field;  thirty- four  EngHsh  standards  were  taken,  be- 
sides all  their  artillery;  and  twelve  thousand  pieces 
of  gold  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  conquerors. 

Hearing  of  these  disasters,  Queen  Elizabeth  now 
despatched  into  Ireland  her  own  favorite,  the  Earl 
of  Essex,  with  twenty-thousand  men,  probably  the 
finest  army  that  England  had  ever  yet  put  into  the 
field.  Yet  he  was  no  match  for  O'Neil.  He  was  de- 
feated in  one  battle  after  another;  so  that  finally 
Elizabeth  in  a  rage  ordered  him  to  the  tower  of 
London,  where  he  paid  with  his  head  upon  the  block 
for  his  ill-success  against  the  gallant  O'Neil. 

Nevertheless,  to  the  keen  observer  it  must  have 
been  apparent  that,  in  spite  of  all  these  brilliant  vic- 
tories won  by  our  forefathers,  England  must  ultimately 
wear  out  the  Irish  by  sheer  force  of  numbers ;  and  that 
is  exactly  what  happened.  So  in  the  following  chapter 
we  shall  relate  as  impartially  as  we  can  the  victories 
of  the  English  over  the  Irish  and  the  final  subjugation 
of  the  island  under  Queen  Elizabeth  and  Cromwell. 

However,  we  must  not  understand  from  this  that 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  *f 

we  have  now  come  to  the  last  great  stand  of  the  Irish 
against  their  English  oppressors.  On  the  contrary, 
we  might  relate  how  within  even  half  a  century  after 
this  another  O'Neil,  Owen  Roe,  with  five  thousand 
four  hundred  Irish  troops  defeated  General  Monroe, 
a  Scottish  commander  in  the  pay  of  England,  with 
six  thousand  eight  hundred  men,  near  the  city  of 
Monaghan.  The  Scots  fled  pell-mell  and  so  many 
of  them  perished  in  trying  to  escape  over  the  Black- 
water  River  that  tradition  says  you  might  have  crossed 
over  dry  shod  on  their  bodies.  This  glorious  victory 
was  won  just  before  Cromwell  landed  in  Ireland. 
Unfortunately,  the  gallant  Owen  Roe  O'Neil  died 
soon  afterwards;  but  if  he  had  Uved,  even  Cromwell, 
the  butcher,  might  have  had  a  different  story  to  tell 
in  Ireland. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Victories  of  the  English  Over  the  Irish. — A 
Tale    of    English    Brutality. 

IF  we  search  the  pages  of  history,  we  shall  find  that 
during  the  first  four  centuries  after  the  Normans 
landed  in  Ireland  they  really  gained  very  little 
foothold  in  the  country,  notwithstanding  the  civil 
dissensions  of  the  Irish.  There  were  only  two  very 
faint  marks  of  English  supremacy  over  the  island; 
the  first  was  the  acknowledgment  of  the  EngHsh 
king  as  the  suzerain  or  over-lord  of  the  country;  the 
second  was  an  EngHsh  colony  which  Henry  II.  planted 
in  the  eastern  part  of  the  island,  henceforth  called  the 
''Pale." 

The  first  mark  of  English  sovereignty  over  Ireland 
viz,  the  acknowledgment  of  the  English  monarch  as 
the  suzerain  of  the  country,  soon  faded  away,  because 
it  was  the  Irish  Ard-Ri,  or  chief  king  of  Ireland, 
Roderick  II.,  that  is  said  to  have  made  this  arrange- 
ment; but  as  there  was  no  chief  monarch  of  the  country 
after  his  time,  the  treaty  that  he  had  made  perished 
with  him,  and  the  individual  Irish  chiefs  who  had  not 
bound  themselves  by  this  compact  carried  on  the 
war  with  the  EngHsh  on  their  own  responsibiHty. 

The  second  mark  of  English  supremacy,  viz,  the 
EngHsh  colony  within  the  'Tale,"  was  also  of  very 
little  consequence  for  hundreds  of  years.  From  the 
twelfth  to  the  sixteenth  century,  or  from  the  reign  of 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  29 

Henry  II.  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  English  colony 
had  scarcely  advanced  a  foot  beyond  its  original 
Hmits.  How  can  this  be  explained?  Only  on  the 
hypothesis  that  the  victories  of  the  Irish  retarded  the 
spread  of  the  English  power.  These  are  the  victories 
which  we  have  related  in  the  previous  chapter. 

During  all  these  victories  of  the  Irish  over  their 
EngHsh  foes  our  forefathers  always  fought  in  a  chival- 
rous, manly  way.  They  never  struck  down  an  un- 
armed enemy,  they  never  murdered  a  helpless  prisoner, 
they  never  butchered  defenceless  women  and  children. 
In  a  word  they  never  acted  contrary  to  the  rules  of 
civilized  warfare  and  not  even  their  worst  enemies 
ever  made  such  an  accusation  against  them  down  to 
the  time  of  King  Charles  II.  in  the  year  1641.  What 
a  glorious  record,  for  our  ancestors  during  five  hundred 
years ! 

On  the  contrary  during  these  same  five  centuries 
history  tells  us  that  the  English  gained  about  five 
decisive  victories  over  the  Irish  and  these  victories 
were  followed  by  scenes  of  barbarity  and  savagery 
which  makes  the  very  blood  run  cold.  This  was 
not  the  practice  occasionally  or  periodically;  but 
every  time  that  the  English  gained  a  victory  it 
was  succeeded  by  a  saturnaHa  of  inhumanity  and 
butchery  that  would  freeze  the  very  life  blood  in  one's 
veins. 

This  uncivilized  method  of  warfare  the  English 
commenced  the  very  first  year  they  set  foot  on  the 
soil  of  Ireland  and  they  have  continued  it  ever  since. 
Not  only  do  Irish  historians  relate  this  but  even  Eng_ 


30  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

lish  authors  themselves  are  forced  to  acknowledge  it. 
Guest  who  was  a  college  professor  in  London  tells 
us  in  his:  "Handbook  of  Enghsh  History,"  page 
1 68,  how  the  English  acted  after  the  capture  of  Water- 
ford.  "  One  instance,"  he  says,  "will  show  how  hard- 
hearted many  o^  the  EngKsh  or  Anglo-Normans  still 
were.  After  taking  the  town  of  Waterford,  they  had 
in  their  hands  seventy  prisoners,  the  principal  men 
of  the  town.  There  was  a  discussion  among  the 
leaders  what  should  be  done  with  these  men.  One 
of  them  named  Raymond  wished  to  be  merciful  and 
allow  them  to  be  ransomed ;  but  another  having  made 
a  fierce  speech  demanding  their  death,  his  comrades 
approved  of  it,  and  the  wretched  prisoners  had  their 
bones  broken  and  were  then  thrown  into  the  sea  and 
drowned."  What  a  terrible  tale  of  English  barbarity! 
Who  ever  heard  of  another  nation  that  claimed  to  be 
civilized  murdering  its  prisoners  ?  Even  Pagan  Rome 
in  her  most  corrupt  days  did  not  do  that.  It  is  true 
she  made  her  prisoners  into  gladiators  and  compelled 
them  to  butcher  one  another  but,  at  any  rate,  she  put 
arms  into  their  hands  and  gave  them  a  chance  to  de- 
fend themselves.  But  it  was  reserved  for  enlightened 
England  to  murder  her  prisoners  and  Oh!  how  bar- 
barously! It  was  not  sufficient  to  cast  them  into  the 
sea,  she  must  first  glut  her  desire  for  revenge  by  break- 
ing their  bones.  Yet  such  were  the  people  whom 
our  modern  fine  English  ladies  and  gentlemen  are 
proud  to  consider  their  ancestors. 

Yet,  terrible  as  was  the  slaughter  at  the  capture  of 
Waterford,  still  more  horrible  was  the  butchery  per- 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  31 

petrated  by  the  Normans  at  the  capture  of  Dublin. 
The  fate  of  Waterford  had  struck  terror  into  the 
people  of  Dublin;  so  they  sent  an  ambassador  to  sue 
for  terms  of  peace  and  to  arrange  for  the  surrender 
of  the  city.  But,  Oh!  unheard  of  atrocity,  while  these 
negotiations  were  in  progress,  the  Normans  burst 
into  the  city  and  commenced  a  most  dreadful  massacre 
of  men,  women,  and  children.  Truly  this  is  a  grand 
commentary  on  EngHsh  good  faith  and  chivalry! 
Whilst  holding  in  one  hand  the  oHve-branch,  the  other 
hand  suddenly  and  without  warning  draws  the  sword. 
But  the  gallant  Englishman  is  not  satisfied  with  strik- 
ing down  an  armed  man;  his  chivalry  prompts  him  to 
slay  even  defenceless  women  and  children.  Yet  at  the 
present  day  how  often  we  hear  of  Anglo-Saxon  cour- 
age, bravery  and  gallantry!  But  even  the  savage 
Indians  of  the  forest  did  not  slay  helpless  women  and 
children. 

The  next  great  victory  won  by  the  EngUsh  over  the 
Irish  and  their  allies  was  in  the  year  13x8,  when  the 
English  defeated  the  Irish  with  their  Scotch  alHes 
under  Edward  Bruce,  near  the  city  of  Dundalk; 
and  here,  too,  the  English  exhibited  their  usual  gal- 
lantry. We  should  imagine  that  the  Enghsh,  if  they 
had  any  generous  spirit  at  all,  would  show  their  ad- 
miration for  their  gallant  foe  that  had  heretofore 
routed  them  completely  in  many  a  well-fought  field, 
as  we  have  related  in  the  previous  chapter;  for  even 
the  Indian  admires  a  brave  adversary.  Not  so  the 
Englishman.  No  sooner  had  Edward  Bruce  been  de- 
feated and  slain  in  battle,  than  they  cut  off  his  noble 


32  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

head  and  sent  it  over  to  London  to  be  set  up  on  one 
of  the  spikes  of  London  tower  as  a  ghastly  trophy. 
This  was  evidently  not  an  isolated  instance  of  English 
barbarity;  for  we  find  that  a  similar  fate  befell  the 
head  of  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  who  rebelled  against 
England  during  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  though 
he  was  not  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word  an  Irishman 
at  all,  but  one  of  the  Anglo-Norman  colony  that  had 
settled  in  Ireland  and  become  more  Irish  than  the 
Irish  themselves.  We  certainly  admire  their  good 
taste,  but  what  shall  we  say  of  the  native  English  who 
down  to  the  time  of  the  ''good  Queen  Bess,"  called 
the  golden  age  of  English  history,  had  no  better  taste 
than  to  set  up  the  heads  of  their  fallen  foes  to  decay 
on  the  spikes  of  the  tower  of  London?  Certainly  if 
there  were  many  trophies  like  that  they  must  have  con- 
tributed greatly  to  purify  the  atmosphere  and  who 
knows  but  they  may  have  been  the  cause  of  the  Black 
Plague  and  other  epidemics  with  which  outraged 
nature  visited  revengeful  England  and  swept  away 
thousands  of  her  subjects  as  the  punishment  of  her 
blood-thirstiness?  At  any  rate  what  an  inspiring 
sight  it  must  have  been  to  the  rising  generation  of 
young  EngKsh  boys  and  girls  to  imbue  them  with 
lofty  ideas  of  refinement,  civiHzation,  and  Christianity! 
It  was  only  towards  the  close  of  Queen  Elizabeth's 
reign  that  Ireland  was  completely  conquered  by  Eng- 
land for  the  first  time.  But  Oh!  by  what  unspeakable 
means  that  conquest  was  brought  about!  We  have 
seen  in  the  previous  chapter  how  the  gallant  O'Neil 
for  ten  years  defied  the  whole  power  of  England,  and 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  33 

as  long  as  the  Irish  chieftains  remained  united  Eng- 
land was  powerless  against  them.  Seeing  that  all 
her  best  generals  had  been  routed  by  the  Irish,  one 
after  the  other,  and  that  it  was  impossible  to  conquer 
the  country  by  the  sword,  England  now  had  resort  to 
the  well-known  English  maxim:  "Divide  and  con- 
quer." As  a  last  resort  Queen  Elizabeth  sent  over  to 
Ireland  Mount  joy  and  Carew  with  instructions  to 
use  every  endeavor  to  break  up  the  Irish  confederation 
by  snares,  deceit,  and  treachery  of  all  kinds,  by  the 
most  shameful  bribery,  and  even  by  forged  letters 
dexterously  employed  to  sow  the  seeds  of  distrust  and 
suspicion  among  the  Irish  leaders.  In  a  word,  they 
were  to  spare  no  efforts  to  create  civil  dissensions 
among  them.  Where  the  skill  of  the  soldier  failed, 
the  wile  of  the  serpent  succeeded.  As  a  result  one 
Irish  chieftain  after  another  fell  away  from  the  con- 
federation and  as  a  sad  consequence  O'Neil  was  soon 
afterwards  defeated  in  a  pitched  battle  by  the  EngUsh 
near  the  city  of  Kinsale.  Then  followed  the  most 
disgraceful  scene  in  England's  disgraceful  history. 
We  have  seen  in  the  previous  chapter  how  Queen 
Elizabeth  directed  the  Irish  chieftains  to  be  invited 
to  a  feast  and  slain  in  the  banquet  hall.  A  little  while 
afterwards,  she  had  another  troublesome  Irish  chief- 
tain to  deal  with,  John  O'Neil  of  Ulster,  who  defeated 
her  Lord  Lieutenant,  the  Earl  of  Sussex  and  carried 
his  victorious  arms  even  to  the  walls  of  Dublin.  How 
to  get  rid  of  him  was  the  question.  So  the  fertile 
mind  of  Queen  Bess  devised  a  plan.  She  wrote  to 
Sussex  directing  him  to  hire  an  assassin  to  murder  the 


34  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Irish  chief;  but  unfortunately  they  failed  to  destroy 
their  correspondence  and  it  is  still  preserved  in  the 
archives  of  England. 

But  these  unprincipled  proceedings  were  nothing 
compared  to  the  butchery  and  spoliation  of  the  Eng- 
lish after  the  Battle  of  Kinsale.  A  few  years  previous- 
ly that  gallant  courtier,  that  noble  specimen  of  the 
pohshed  English  gentleman,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
ordered  eight  hundred  prisoners  of  war  to  be  cruelly 
butchered  and  then  flung  over  the  rocks  into  the  sea. 
Yet  after  all,  these  were  men,  but  now  the  English 
proceeded  to  the  systematic  extermination  of  the 
whole  Irish  people,  men,  women  and  children.  This 
was  not  warfare  but  double-dyed  murder.  Yet  we 
are  not  asked  to  accept  this  on  the  testimony  of  Irish 
historians,  for  Englishmen  themselves  are  forced  to 
admit  it  with  shame.  Froude  certainly  was  no  special 
friend  of  Ireland,  for  some  Irishmen  who  are  now 
living  may  remember  how  some  years  ago  he  came  out 
to  America  to  vilify  their  native  land  and  the  great 
Dominican,  Father  Burke,  followed  him  to  refute  his 
vilifications.  Yet  this  is  what  he  says  in  his  History 
of  England,  X,  page  5'>8,  concerning  the  English 
barbarities  perpetrated  in  Ireland  during  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth:  ''The  English  nation  was  shuddering 
over  the  atrocities  of  the  Duke  of  Alva  in  Holland. 
Yet  Alva's  bloody  sword  never  touched  the  young, 
the  defenceless,  or  those  whose  sex  even  dogs  can 
recognize  and  respect.  Sir  Peter  Carew,  the  English 
commander,  has  been  seen  murdering  women,  and 
diildren  and  babies  that  had  scarcely  left  the  breast. 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  35 

It  was  no  fault  of  the  English  if  any  Irish  child  of  that 
generation  was  allowed  to  live  to  mankind."  Thus 
did  the  English  out-Herod  Herod.  He  murdered  the 
innocents,  but  only  those  of  one  locality  and  only 
such  as  were  not  over  two  years  of  age;  but  here  we 
find  a  nation  calling  itself  enlightened,  civilized,  and 
Christian  murdering  a  race  wholesale. 

The  campaign  of  Cromwell  in  Ireland  was  but  a 
repetition  of  the  atrocities  committed  under  Queen 
Elizabeth,  only  intensified,  if  that  were  possible. 
With  the  bible  in  one  hand  and  the  sword  in  the  other, 
he  marched  through  the  island  butchering  helpless 
women  and  children,  with  a  ferocity  which  would 
make  the  blood  run  cold.  Every  schoolboy  knows  of 
his  dreadful  massacres  at  Drogleda  and  Waterford, 
the  details  of  which  would  sicken  the  heart.  The 
historian,  Prendergast,  though  himself  of  English 
descent,  is  forced  to  confess  that:  "Such  scenes  were 
not  witnessed  since  the  Vandals  conquered  Spain." 

Finally,  having  satisfied  his  thirst  for  blood  he 
seized  a  hundred  thousand  Irish,  many  of  them  young 
boys  and  girls  of  tender  years  and  transported  them 
as  slaves  to  the  West  Indies;  but  the  rest  of  the  in- 
habitants he  drove  into  the  most  barren  and  desolate 
corner  of  the  Island  telling  them  in  his  brutal  way 
"to  go  to  Hell  or  Connaught."  But  the  Irish  warriors 
amounting  to  forty  thousand  men  he  banished  into 
Spain. 

Nevertheless,  even  the  butcheries  of  Cromwell  could 
not  break  the  heroic  spirit  of  our  ancestors.  Our 
English  cousins  sometimes  call  the  Irish  a  wild,  law- 


36  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

less  race.  Yet  it  was  in  defence  of  their  sovereign, 
Charles  I.,  that  they  took  up  arms  against  Cromwell. 
So  a  half  century  afterwards,  like  loyal  subjects,  they 
again  took  up  arms  in  defence  of  their  king,  James 
II.,  when  his  own  subjects  deposed  him,  not  because 
of  any  crime,  but  on  account  of  his  religious  convic- 
tions. 

It  is  true  that  the  Orangemen  can  boast  that  they 
beat  the  Irish  at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne;  but  where 
is  the  glory  in  veteran  troops,  the  best  equipped  in 
Europe,  defeating  a  handful  of  poorly-armed  and 
badly  organized  peasantry,  aided  by  a  few  companies 
of  French  regulars?  But  if  the  Irish  were  defeated 
at  the  Boyne,  they  covered  themselves  with  glory  at 
the  siege  of  Limerick,  for  they  drove  King  William 
with  his  army  of  veterans  pell-mell  from  the  city; 
and  the  women  of  Limerick  deserve  as  much  credit 
as  the  men,  for,  Uke  true  heroines,  they  fought  side  by 
side  with  their  husbands. 

Where  is  the  glory  of  England  in  tyrannizing  over, 
despoiUng,  and  butchering  such  a  gallant  and  heroic 
race?  Is  it  not  rather  the  darkest  stain  in  her  char- 
acter? If  England  only  knew  enough  to  conciliate 
that  noble  race,  they  would  be  her  strongest  bulwark 
and  defence.  Instead  of  that,  her  oppression  of  the 
Irish  at  home  has  driven  them  forth  to  strengthen  the 
hands  of  England's  enemies  in  foreign  lands.  When 
brute  force  finally  triumphed  in  King  Wilham's  war, 
twenty  thousand  more  Irish  warriors  went  over  as 
exiles  to  France  and  were  incorporated  into  the  French 
army.     It  is  well  known  how  some  years  later  there 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  37 

set  in  a  regular  exodus  of  Irish  emigrants  to  America. 
But  in  the  succeeding  chapter  we  shall  see  how  they 
and  their  descendants  again  often  met  their  old  Eng- 
lish foes  in  foreign  lands  and  helped  to  inflict  upon 
them  many  a  humiliating  defeat,  in  return  for  having 
by  their  tyranny  driven  them  from  their  native  land. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Irish  Victories  Over  the  English  in  Foreign 
Lands.     "We  Meet  Again  at  Philippi." 

WHEN  Brutus  and  his  fellow-conspirators  bru- 
tally assassinated  Julius  Caesar,  almost  hack- 
ing him  to  pieces  by  their  swords  and  daggers, 
they  imagined  that  his  power  and  influence  wxre  gone 
forever.  But  no;  his  great  spirit  still  lived  on  in  the 
heart  of  his  successor,  Csesar  Augustus;  and  whilst 
Brutus  in  his  camp  on  the  distant  shores  of  Asia  was 
preparing  for  the  final  struggle  against  this  new  oppo- 
nent that  had  just  sprung  up  against  him,  suddenly  the 
ghost  of  Julius  Caesar,  pale  and  ghastly,  is  said  to 
have  appeared  to  him  in  his  tent  and  said:  "We 
meet  again  at  Philippi."  Before  very  long,  the  mean- 
ing of  this  apparition  became  plain,  for  a  great  battle 
was  fought  at  Philippi,  where  Caesar  Augustus  was 
victorious  and  Brutus  was  defeated  and  slain.  Caesar 
was  dead  but  his  spirit  still  conquered. 

So  Hkewise  when  Ireland  after  a  gallant  struggle 
lay  prostrate  at  the  feet  of  England,  the  proud  victor 
was  not  satisfied  to  kick  her  fallen  victim,  though  it  is 
only  a  coward  that  would  strike  a  man  when  he  is 
down;  but  England  did  more;  she  actually  plunged 
a  poisoned  dagger  into  Erin's  heart.  She  imagined 
that  Ireland  was  dead — dead  forever.  But,  lo!  the 
great  unconquered  spirit  of  Erin  still  lived  on  in  the 
hearts  of  her  exiled  sons,  who  departed  in  thousands 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  39 

from  their  native  land;  and  these  exiled  children  of 
Erin  were  frequenth'  to  meet  their  old  English  foes 
on  many  a  well-fought  field  in  foreign  lands,  inflicting 
upon  them  many  a  humiliating  defeat.  Indeed,  most 
of  England's  reverses  abroad  during  the  last  three 
centuries  have  been  due  to  these  exiled  warriors  of 
Erin,  who  at  a  decisive  moment  turned  the  tide  of 
battle  against  her,  so  that  England  paid  dearly  for 
the  exile  of  the  Gael. 

The  Irish  have  always  proved  themselves  a  very 
brave  race  at  home  and  abroad.  Many  a  time  they 
put  their  Anglo-Saxon  foes  to  flight  from  their  native 
soil  as  we  have  seen  in  chapter  the  fourth.  Even 
King  WilHam  of  Orange  himself,  who  had  defeated 
them  at  the  River  Boyne,  declared  that  "they  were 
born  soldiers";  and  he  endeavored  to  enhst  thenx 
into  his  own  army.  But  the  Irish  soldiers  loved 
liberty  too  well  to  live  in  subjection.  So  most  of 
them  passed  over  to  the  friendly  soil  of  Spain  and 
France ,  where  their  valor  soon  became  so  conspicuous 
that  King  Henry  IV.  of  France  said:  "There  was  no 
nation  which  produced  better  troops  than  the  Irish, 
when  drilled."  It  was  not  long  before  they  wxre  to 
prove  themselves  worthy  of  these  grand  encomiums. 

A  great  European  war  broke  out,  entanghng  nearly 
aU  the  great  powers  of  Europe.  On  one  side  were 
France  and  Spain.  Arrayed  against  them  were  Eng- 
land, Germany,  and  Austria  whose  combined  armies 
were  commanded  by  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  and 
Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy,  one  of  the  greatest  command- 
ers of  the  age.     Early  in  the  struggle  Italy  became  a 


40  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

bone  of  contention  between  them.  A  French  army 
under  the  Duke  of  Villeroy,  accompanied  by  two 
Irish  regiments  under  O'Mahony  and  Burke,  held 
the  Italian  town  of  Cremona.  But  one  morning  be- 
fore sunrise  the  place  was  surprised  by  the  English 
auxiliaries  under  Prince  Eugene  and  the  whole  French 
force  with  their  commander  was  captured.  The  only 
part  of  the  city  that  did  not  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy  was  that  held  by  the  Irish ;  and  now  they  were 
summoned  to  surrender.  They  answered  with  a 
volley  of  bullets.  The  Austrian  general,  having  Irish 
troops  in  his  own  service,  had  a  very  high  regard  for 
Irish  valor  and  did  not  wish  to  sacrifice  the  lives  of 
brave  men,  so  he  sent  messengers  to  expostulate  with 
them,  telling  them  that  the  town  was  virtually  in  his 
hands  and  that  further  resistance  would  be  only  use- 
less shedding  of  blood.  At  the  same  time  he  assured 
them  that  if  they  immediately  surrendered  and  joined 
his  army  they  should  be  promptly  promoted.  But 
their  answer  was:  ''While  one  of  us  exists  the  Ger- 
man eagles  will  never  float  upon  these  walls." 

Thereupon  the  Irish  troops  were  attacked  by  an 
overwhelming  force.  Taken  completely  by  surprise 
they  were  compelled  to  fight  in  their  shirt  sleeves ;  yet, 
before  sunrise  they  had  recovered  nearly  half  the 
city;  and  before  evening  they  had  completely  expelled 
the  enemy  from  the  town  and  rescued  the  French  gen- 
eral and  all  his  soldiers  from  the  hands  of  their  foes. 
Next  day  the  sad  news  arrived  in  London  that  the 
allies  of  England  had  met  with  defeat  and  disaster 
from  the  Irish,  whom  English  folly  and  tyranny  had 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  41 

driven  into  exile.     As  the  poet  has  well  expressed  it, 
there  was — 

"News,  news  in  Vienna!  King  Leopold's  sad. 
News,  news  in  St.  James'!  King  William's  mad. 
News,  news  in  Versailles!  Let  the  Irish  brigade 
Be  loyally  honored  and  royally  paid." 
But  still  more  important  than  this  was  the  great 
battle  of  Fontenoy,  a  few  years  after,  when  the  Irish 
exiles  met  this  time  not  the  allies  of  England,  but  the 
English  themselves,  their  old  hated  foes.  Every 
schoolboy  knows  the  thrilling  story  of  this  battle — 
how  the  French  army  beaten  by  the  English  was  about 
to  flee  from  the  field,  when  as  a  last  resort  the  Irish 
Brigade  was  ordered  to  charge  upon  the  victorious 
Anglo-Saxons.  The  Irish  advanced  with  fixed  bay- 
onets; then  with  a  tremendous  shout:  "Remember 
the  broken  treaty  of  Limerick  and  English  perfidy," 
they  dashed  upon  the  flank  of  their  foes.  The  English 
were  stunned  by  the  dreadful  shout,  and  dazed  by  the 
sudden  attack  of  their  ancient  foes.  It  seemed  as 
if  Caesar's  ghost  had  suddenly  confronted  them. 
They  were  completely  shattered  by  the  Irish  charge; 
they  reeled,  then  broke  before  the  Irish  bayonets,  and 
tumbled  down  the  hill,  disorganized,  broken  and 
falling  by  hundreds.  The  victory  was  bloody  and 
complete.  After  the  battle  the  French  King  Louis 
rode  down  to  the  Irish  auxiliaries  and  personally 
thanked  them.  On  the  other  hand  the  tidings  of  de- 
feat caused  consternation  in  England;  and  when 
King  George  II.  heard  how  the  flower  of  his  troops 
had  been  defeated  by  the  exiled  warriors  of   Erin, 


42  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

he  exclaimed:  "Cursed  be  the  laws  that  deprive  me  of 
such  subjects!" 

But  the  Irish  were  to  inflict  a  still  greater  humilia- 
tion upon  England  by  causing  her  to  lose  America, 
the  fairest  of  all  her  provinces,  the  land  that  is  to-day 
the  richest  country  in  the  world.  There  is  no  doubt 
whatsoever  that  but  for  the  Irish  the  United  States 
would  be  an  English  colony  to-day.  But  for  the 
help  given  them  by  the  Irish  the  early  American  pa- 
triots would  never  have  been  able  to  hold  out  until 
the  arrival  of  French  aid.  They  would  have  been 
speedily  crushed  by  the  mailed  hand  of  England. 

The  Hon.  Geo.  Washington  Park  Curtis,  the  step- 
son of  General  Washington,  tells  us  that:  ''Up  to  the 
coming  of  the  French,  Ireland  had  furnished  to  the 
revolutionary  army  one  hundred  soldiers  to  one  from 
any  other  nation  whatever." 

It  is  a  fact  not  generally  known  that  one-half  the 
soldiers  of  the  American  revolutionary  army  were  of 
Irish  birth.  During  the  seven  years  war  that  secured 
American  independence  the  forces  raised  by  the  United 
States  consisted  of  two  hundred  and  eighty-eight 
thousand  men.  Of  this  army  there  were  two  Irish- 
men to  every  native.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  a  Mr. 
Galloway,  who  had  been  speaker  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Assembly  was  examined  before  a  committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons  and  asked  what  the  Continental 
Army  was  composed  of.  Here  is  his  answer: — "The 
names  and  places  of  their  nativity  having  been  taken 
down,  I  can  answer  the  question  with  precision. 
Th«rc  were  scarcely  one-fourth  natives  of  America, 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  43 

about  one  half  were  Irish,  and  the  other  fourth  prin- 
cipally Scotch  fl.nd  EngHsh." 

Not  only  did  Ireland  furnish  soldiers  to  the  Amer- 
ican cause,  but  great  generals  as  well.  Some  of  the 
most  successful  generals  of  the  Revolutionary  war 
were  of  Irish  birth  or  extraction.  Among  others 
may  be  mentioned  General  Stephen  Moylan,  the  first 
quarter- master  of  the  Revolutionary  army,  General 
Sulhvan,  General  Montgomery,  who  invaded  Canada 
and  laid  down  his  life  for  the  cause,  and  General 
Stark,  the  son  of  an  Irish  emigrant.  He  defeated 
the  EngHsh  in  the  Battle  of  Bennington,  taking  six 
hundred  prisoners.  Before  the  battle  he  gave  utter- 
ance to  a  famous  remark  which  is  certain  to  live  in 
history.  Pointing  to  the  English  he  said  to  Ms 
soldiers,  most  of  whom  were  Irish  or  of  Irish  descent, 
like  himself:  "Boys,  there  are  the  redcoats;  before 
evening  they  will  be  ours  or  Molly  Stark  will  be  a 
widow." 

It  is  also  worthy  of  note  that  the  father  of  General 
Wayne  came  from  Ireland  and  settled  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. Most  of  his  soldiers,  too,  were  Irish.  They 
gained  a  great  many  victories  over  the  EngHsh  and 
we  can  now  easily  understand  why  the  British  caUed 
then:  leader:  ''Mad  Anthony  Wayne."  Whenever 
anyone  defeats  the  English,  they  always  say  he  is 
''mad";  just  as  they  speak  at  the  present  day  of  the 
Mad  Mullah  of  Africa,  because  he  has  routed  them 
so  often  in  battle. 

Not  only  did  Ireland  furnish  soldiers  and  general* 
to  the   American  revolutionary  army,  but  Hkewise 


44  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

marines  to  the  first  American  navy.  The  first  com- 
modore of  the  American  navy  was  an  Irishman  called 
Barry;  and  once  when  a  haughty  English  admiral 
met  him  on  the  high  seas  and  peremptorily  demanded : 
''Who  goes  there ? "  this  brave  Irishman  sent  a  cannon 
ball  whistling  over  the  bow  of  the  English  ship  and 
replied:  ''I  am  saucy  Jack  Barry,  commodore  of 
the  American  navy?  Who  are  you?"  We  can 
readily  comprehend  how  valuable  were  the  services 
of  this  Irishman  to  the  American  cause  when,  to  detach 
him  from  it,  the  English  commander,  Lord  Howe, 
offered  him  15,000  guineas  and  the  command  of  the 
best  frigate  in  the  English  navy.  But  the  gallant  and 
uncorruptible  patriot  rephed:  ''I  have  devoted  my- 
self to  the  cause  of  America  and  the  command  of  the 
whole  British  fleet  mth  all  the  money  in  the  British 
Empire  could  not  seduce  me  from  it." 

But  probably  still  more  necessary  than  even  soldiers 
and  sailors  was  to  supply  the  American  Governmxent 
with  the  "sinews  of  war,"  to  carry  on  the  great  struggle 
against  powerful  England.  Yet  in  the  darkest  hour 
of  the  great  crisis,  when  famine  was  staring  in  the 
face  of  Washington's  little  army  at  Valley  Forge  and 
discontent,  desertion,  and  discouragement  appeared 
on  all  sides,  who  was  it  that  again  came  to  the  rescue 
of  the  American  cause  with  generous  financial  assist- 
ance but  the  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick?  Twenty- 
seven  members  of  this  Irish  society  contributed  103,500 
pounds,  or  over  half  a  miUion  dollars  and  then  more 
than  an  equivalent  for  several  milHons  at  the  present 
time.     This  patriotic  act  was  fully  appreciated  by 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  45 

Washington,  who  wrote  the  society  a  very  compK- 
mentary  letter  and  declared  it  to  be  "distinguished 
for  its  firm  adherence  to  our  glorious  cause."  Yet,  at 
the  same  time,  another  Irishman,  Thomas  Fitszim- 
mons,  subscribed  a  loan  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 
to  the  same  cause. 

Not  only  did  the  Irish  contribute  soldiers  and  sailors 
and  material  resources  to  the  American  cause ,  but  also 
in  the  council-rooms  they  had  wise  statesmen  and 
worthy  representatives.  Four  of  these,  Charles 
Carroll  of  CarroUton,  his  cousin,  Daniel  Carroll, 
Thomas  Fitzsimmons,  and  Thomas  Lee  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Continental  Congress  and  signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence. 

Moreover,  it  is  well  known  that  it  was  the  mission 
to  Canada  of  Father  John  Carroll,  afterwards  Arch- 
bishop Carroll,  that  secured  the  neutrahty  of  the 
Canadians  and  thus  greatly  helped  the  American 
cause. 

Finally,  after  spending,  as  Edward  Burke  says, 
seventy  miUions  of  pounds  and  causing  the  loss  of  one 
hundred  thousand  lives,  England  was  forced  to  give 
up  the  struggle.  She  had  lost  her  American  colonies 
through  the  instrumentahty  of  the  Irish.  To  them 
she  is  indebted  for  the  loss  of  the  finest  and  richest 
country  in  the  world.  She  still  holds  Ireland  beneath 
her  iron  heel,  although  of  late  she  seems  more  inchned 
to  give  her  tardy  justice;  but  because  of  her  past 
tyranny  in  that  country  she  has  lost  a  country  twenty 
times  greater  than  Ireland  in  population,  a  hundred 
times  greater  in  size  and  a  thousand  times  greater  m 


46  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

natural  resources — in  fact  a  country  almost  as  large 
as  all  Europe  together.  Let  Englishmen  boast  of 
their  superiority  over  the  Irish.  Let  them  continue 
to  despise  the  Irish  as  a  conquered  race.  The  Irish 
can  truly  say  that  in  foreign  lands  they  met  again  their 
Enghsh  foes  at  Philippi  and  history  tells  us  who  were 
the  victors. 

Besides  causing  England  the  loss  of  the  United 
States,  these  same  turbulent  Irish  came  very  near  de- 
priving dear  Mother  England  of  Canada  also.  At  the 
close  of  the  late  American  Civil  War,  a  large  force  of 
Irishmen  who  had  been  trained  in  the  American  army 
organized  themselves  into  a  society  called  the  Fenians 
and  resolved  to  sever  Canada  from  England. 

The  movement  was  making  great  headway  and 
promised  to  be  entirely  successful  until  the  American 
Government  issued  a  proclamation  forbidding  any 
military  movement  against  any  government  with 
which  the  American  people  were  at  peace.  The 
Washington  authorities  even  went  so  far  as  to  post 
United  States  soldiers  along  the  Canadian  frontier 
and  to  station  gunboats  on  the  lakes  and  on  the  St. 
Lawrence  River  to  prevent  the  Fenians  from  crossing 
over  to  Canada.  Perhaps  they  might  have  been  com- 
pelled to  do  so  by  international  law;  but,  at  any  rate, 
the  Anglo-maniacs  of  America  have  always  been  too 
obsequious  to  England.  Nevertheless,  one  force  of 
Irishmen  under  Colonel  John  O'Neil  succeeded  in 
getting  across  and  on  the  heights  of  Ridgeway  inflicted 
a  severe  defeat  on  a  large  force  of  English,  under 
Colonel  Booker.     The  British  and  their  commander 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  47 

fled  for  their  lives,  leaving  their  proud  standard  in  the 
hands  of  the  Irish.  This  victory  created  the  greatest 
consternation  throughout  Canada  and  England.  The 
EngHsh  were  in  great  fear  that  they  were  now  about 
to  lose  Canada,  as  they  had  lost  the  United  States. 
But,  on  the  foUo^dng  day,  O'Neil  learned  with  regret 
that  his  supports  and  suppUes  had  been  cut  off  by 
United  States  gun-boats  and  nothing  remained  but 
to  surrender  to  the  American  naval  commander. 

In  the  late  Boer  War,  also,  the  Irish  once  more 
distinguished  themselves  under  the  command  of  their 
gallant  leader.  Colonel  Blake,  against  their  ancient 
foes.  Many  a  humihating  defeat  the  Irish  Brigade 
helped  to  inflict  on  Tommy  Atkins  at  Ladysmith, 
the  Tugela  River,  and  Spion  Kop.  As  the  EngUsh 
greatly  dreaded  to  meet  them  in  the  open  field,  even 
at  this  period  of  enhghtenment,  the  dawn  of  the  twen- 
tieth century,  they  had  recourse  to  their  old  dastardly 
system  of  warfare,  actually  placing  a  price  of  five 
thousand  pounds,  or  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  on 
the  head  of  Colonel  Blake;  and,  although  he  is  a 
native  American  citizen,  our  pro-English  toady.  Sec- 
retary of  State  Hay,  has  never  even  protested  against 
this  barbarous  and  unci\dlized  system  of  warfare. 

But  in  spite  of  all  these  defeats  and  humiHations 
at  the  hands  of  the  Irish,  the  Englishman  will  tell  us 
that  the  Irishman  is  too  hot-headed  and  impetuous 
to  make  a  good  soldier.  On  the  contrary  how  fre- 
quently we  hear  of  the  boasted  Anglo-Saxon  pluck, 
coolness  and  bull-dog  tenacity  upon  the  battle-field! 
In  our  next  chapter,  therefore,  we  shall  compare  the 


48  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Irish  and  English  soldier,  dehneating  the  military 
traits  and  characteristics  of  each.  In  a  word  we  shall 
endeavor  to  solve  the  question:  "Which  countr)' 
produces  the  better  soldiers,  Ireland  or  England?" 


CHAPTER  VII. 
The    Irish    and    English    Soldier    Compared. 

AS  the  English  have  conquered  Ireland,  it  would 
seem  as  if  the  Anglo-Saxon  were  superior  to 
the  Celt  in  military  affairs,  since  it  is  usually 
the  superior  race  that  conquers.  But  here  we  have 
an  exception  to  the  rule;  for  we  have  seen  in  the 
previous  chapter  how  the  Irish  exiles  carried  the 
contest  into  foreign  lands,  met  their  old  foes  again 
on  many  a  well-fought  field,  and  were  finally  the 
victors.  As  our  venerable  Senator  Hoar  has  well 
said:  ^'The  Irish  have  conquered  their  conquerors." 
Would  it  not  seem  then,  from  their  ultimate  triumph, 
that  the  Irish  are  the  braver  race? 

Nobody  has  ever  questioned  the  extraordinary 
bravery  of  the  Irish  race.  Their  valor  on  the  battle- 
field has  passed  into  a  proverb.  Whenever  there  is 
a  grand  charge  to  be  made  upon  the  enemy  or  a  vigor- 
ous assault  upon  his  works,  then  the  ardent  and  im- 
petuous Irish  soldiers  surpass  all  others.  They 
sweep  every  obstacle  before  them  by  one  grand  rush 
and  are  as  irresistible  as  the  hurricane.  Those  who 
have  witnessed  the  wild  charge  of  the  Irish  brigade 
upon  the  battle-field  say  it  is  an  inspiring  sight,  which 
they  can  never  forget. 

In  other  countries  continual  tyranny  has  finally 
broken  the  spirit  of  the  bravest  race.  For  instance, 
who  would  recognize  in  the  dejected  and  disheartened 


so  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Indian  of  Modem  Mexico  the  descendants  of  the 
mighty  Aztecs,  who  so  long  defied  the  invincible 
Cortes  and  his  gallant  Spanish  cavaliers?  Yet  they 
are  essentially  the  same  race;  but  oppression  has  done 
its  deadly  work.  But  Ireland  has  had  to  endure  far 
more  from  seven  centuries  of  English  t)n'anny;  yet, 
with  very  few  exceptions,  the  Irish  are  to-day  as  brave 
and  high-spirited  as  ever. 

It  is  true,  the  English  claim  to  be  a  still  more  valor- 
ous race.  But  the  question  is:  "V\^ho  is  the  braver, 
the  man  who  defends  himself  courageously  from  the 
unprovoked  attack  of  an  adversary  greatly  his  superior 
in  size  or  the  bully  who  goes  around  continually 
looking  for  trouble  with  those  that  are  smaller  than 
himself  but  is  afraid  to  meet  an  opponent,  of  his  own 
weight  ?  Thus  we  have  in  the  form  of  an  allegory  the 
military  record  of  the  Irish  and  the  English  race. 

Ireland  has  had  to  fight  England,  an  antagonist 
nearly  twice  her  size.  The  Irish  did  not  seek  for  the 
contest,  it  was  forced  upon  them  in  defence  of  their 
homes  and  freedom.  On  the  contrary,  the  English 
have  always  been  very  brave  in  the  presence  of  smaller 
and  weaker  powers  or  in  dealing  with  the  undeveloped 
races  of  Asia  and  Africa,  whose  weapons  are  still 
little  better  than  bows  and  arrows;  but  they  have  al- 
ways been  very  civil  towards  the  United  States  and  the 
great  powers  of  Europe.  Whether  this  is  bravery  or 
cowardice  let  the  reader  judge  for  himself. 

Only  twice  in  her  history  during  fifteen  centuries 
has  England  gone  to  war  with  a  country  as  large  as 
V)r  larger  than  herself;  and  then  under  circumstances 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  51 

which  certainly  reflect  no  credit  on  her.     Once  she 
went  to  war  with  France,  but  at  a  time  when  that 
poor  country  had  the  misfortune  to  have  an  insane 
king  and  was  torn  by  civil  dissensions.     But  after 
lighting  for  a  hundred  years  to  get  control  of  France 
the  English  were  driven  bag  and  baggage  out  of  the 
country  and  have  never  been  able  to  get  a  permanent 
foothold   there  since.     Truly  these  Enghsh  are  won- 
derful for  taking  advantage  of  their  neighbor's  mis- 
fortunes; but  they  sometimes  pay  dearly  for  it  after- 
wards.    On  another  occasion,  England  went  to  war 
with  Russia;  but  she  was  very  careful  beforehand  to 
have  secured  France  and  Turkey  to  fight  by  her  side. 
However,  a  few  years  ago,  England  began  to  feel 
her  old  brave  spirit  before  the  weak  and  powerless 
once  more  swelling  up  within  her  heart;  so  she  re- 
solved to  get  a  slice  of  Venezuela.    The  poor,  helpless 
Venezuelans  begged  England  to  refer  the  case  to 
arbitration.    But  Joe  Chamberlain  said :     ''No!  The 
only  arbitration  will  be  by  Maxim  Guns."    But  just 
then  that  grand  old  man  of  democracy.  President 
Cleveland,  stepped  in  and  held  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
as  a  magic  helmet  over  Venezuela.     Then  all  at  cnce 
what  a  great  change  came  over  the  countenance  of 
John  Bull!    He  began  to  make  all  sorts  of  excuses 
and  apologies  saying:    "I  beg  your  pardon  sir!     I 
did  not  mean  to  offend  you!    We  are  cousins  you 
know!     Blood   is   thicker   than   water!     Let   us   be 
friends  and  live  in  peace!"     Everybody  knows  how 
ingloriously  England  backed  down  on  that  occasion 
before  the  United  States. 


BOSTON   COLLEGI 

FACULTY  LIBRARY 
PWPCXMii-r    I  III   I       *»  ,«- 


52  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

How  dififerent  was  England's  attitude  a  few  years 
afterwards  to  the  two  little  republics  of  South  Africa. 
No  sooner  were  diamonds  discovered  in  the  Transvaal 
than  England,  never  at  a  loss  for  a  pretext  to  despoil 
the  weak,  manufactured  some  flimsy  excuse  for  making 
war  on  that  country.  President  Kruger  of  the 
Transvaal  requested  England  to  refer  the  case  to 
arbitration.  But  England  said:  "No!  There  is 
nothing  to  arbitrate."  "Then,"  said  Kruger,  "If 
you  are  bound  to  have  my  country,  you  will  purchase 
it  at  a  price  that  will  stagger  humanity."  He  kept 
his  word.  For  more  than  two  years,  these  two  little 
republics  of  South  Africa,  the  Transvaal  and  the 
Orange  River  Free  State,  whose  combined  population 
did  not  reach  one  million,  kept  at  bay  the  whole 
power  of  England.  England's  thirty  miUions  could 
not  conquer  this  little  handful  of  brave  farmers,  so 
she  had  to  call  upon  Canada  and  Australia  for  assist- 
ance. Yes,  and  even  Queen  Victoria  herself  with  a 
shamrock  in  her  hand  had  to  go  over  to  Ireland  beg- 
ging for  soldiers.  There  were  three  hundred  thousand 
British  soldiers  against  thirty  thousand  Boers;  yet 
though  only  one  to  ten  the  Boers  made  England  the 
laughing  stock  of  Europe. 

Until  the  Boer  War  knocked  some  of  the  conceit  out 
of  the  heads  of  our  Anglo-Saxon  friends  we  were 
accustc>med  to  hear  so  much  of  English  pluck,  cool- 
ness, and  bull-dog  tenacity  upon  the  battle-field  that 
we  might  imagine  that  when  the  Almighty  created 
the  human  race  he  gave  to  the  Ando-Saxon  a  monopoly 
of  every  martial  perfection.     But  when  the  whole 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  53 

world  looking  on  saw  how  one  Boer  put  to  flight  from 
two  to  ten  Enghsh  soldiers,  people  opened  their  eyes 
in  amazement  and  inquired:  "WTiere  is  that  boasted 
EngHsh  pluck  about  which  we  heard  so  much?" 

For  a  long  time  too,  the  EngHsh  had  been  boasting 
of  their  "Anglo-Saxon  coolness"  in  battle,  and  crit- 
icising the  Irish  for  their  hot-headedness ,  which 
they  alleged,  would  prevent  them  from  ever  becoming 
successful  soldiers.  The  English  had  forgotten  what 
we  have  related  in  a  previous  chapter  about  the  cool- 
ness of  the  Irish,  when  under  Hugh  O 'Byrne  they  en- 
trapped the  EngHsh  in  a  ravine  and  waited  calmly 
without  firing  until  the  enemy  was  entirely  enmeshed 
in  the  snare;  when  they  were  completely  thrown  into 
a  panic  and  fled  in  all  directions.  Where  was  the 
famous  Anglo-Saxon  coolness  then?  Anglo-Saxon 
coolness  is  a  myth,  like  the  myth  about  Anglo-Saxon 
pluck  and  a  great  many  other  EngHsh  myths. 

The  EngHsh  are  as  easily  panic-stricken  in  battle  as 
any  other  race  under  the  sun  and  probably  more  so. 
We  have  seen  how  on  one  occasion  the  whole  EngHsh 
army  was  throv/n  into  a  panic  when  they  saw  their 
cavalry  rush  headlong  into  some  pits  constructed  for 
them  by  the  strategy  of  Hugh  O'Neil.  So  in  the  late 
Boer  War  how  often  a  stampede  among  the  American 
mules  was  sufficient  to  deprive  the  cool-headed  Eng- 
Hshman  of  his  boasted  coolness  and  to  throw  the  whole 
British  army  in  an  uncontrollable  panic!  In  fact 
the  British  generals  put  the  blame  for  nearly  all  their 
defeats  on  the  American  mules  and  the  poor  dumb 
animals  were  not  able  to  contradict  them. 


54 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 


But,  while  we  find  the  English  not  guilty  of  any  ex- 
traordinary bravery  or  coolness  on  the  battle-field,  we 
must  frankly  confess,  to  give  them  their  due,  that  they 
certainly  do  possess  a  great  deal  of  what  they  call 
*' Anglo-Saxon  bull-dog  tenacity."  The  bull-dog  is 
not  by  any  means  a  noble  animal;  nor  is  he  the  strong- 
est of  the  canine  species;  for  the  Great  Dane  and  the 
Newfoundland  dog  are  much  stronger;  yet  it  is  said 
that  no  other  dog  is  a  match  for  the  bull-dog,  because 
when  once  he  gets  a  hold  it  is  impossible  to  break  his 
grasp.  So  the  English,  though  not  at  all  the  strongest 
or  the  bravest  race,  have  been  by  their  dogged  tenacity, 
aided  by  their  cunning  and  trickery,  about  wliich  we 
shall  speak  more  later,  a  match  for  even  more  powerful 
races  than  themselves.  No  matter  how  often  they 
have  been  defeated,  the  English  will  again  return  to 
the  attack;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  they  can  endure 
a  great  deal  of  punishment.  The  secret  of  it  is  that 
the  EngUsh  Government  cares  very  Httle  for  the  life 
of  her  common  soldiers;  so  she  is  ready  to  sacrifice  any 
number  of  them  in  order  to  win  the  victory.  She  does 
not  care  as  long  as  the  Enghsh  nobility  do  not  fall 
in  battle.  England  considers  the  life  of  one  English 
lord  more  valuable  than  the  lives  of  a  thousand  com- 
mon soldiers. 

Yet  England's  tenacity  of  purpose  is  generally 
manifested  only  to  a  weaker  power,  but  before  a  strong 
adversary  she  is  not  at  all  so  determined.  Twice  at 
least  in  her  career  she  has  ingloriously  rehnquished 
the  contest  —  once  when  she  abandoned  the 
conquest    of    France    and    again    when    she    was 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  55 

compelled  to  grant  independence  to  her  American 
colonies. 

But  there  are  other  races  just  as  tenacious  of  pur- 
pose as  the  Enghsh  people  and  perhaps  more  so. 
After  all  the  horrors  that  our  Irish  forefathers  endured 
under  Queen  Elizabeth  and  Cromwell  they  did  not 
give  up  the  great  battle  for  their  freedom  and  indepen- 
dence. Though  decimated  by  the  sword,  wasted  by 
famine,  and  reduced  to  a  meer  handful,  they  were 
not  afraid  to  leap  to  arms  again  in  1798  and  1848, 
and  to  defy  the  whole  power  of  the  British  Empire. 
Yet,  as  the  poet  says,  where  is  the  Irishman  at  home  or 
abroad  to-day 

"Who  fears  to  speak  of  ninety-eight 
Who  blushes  at  the  name?" 

The  Irish  are  just  as  enthusiastic  as  ever  to-day  to 
renew  the  contest  should  a  favorable  opportunity  offer, 
and  they  will  never  give  up  the  struggle  as  long  as  there 
is  a  single  Irishman  left,  until  England  has  been 
forced  to  do  justice  to  their  native  land.  Another 
Irish  poet,  the  late  T.  D.  Sullivan,  sums  up  well  the 
sentiments  of  every  loyal  Irish  heart: 

''But  on  the  cause  must  go, 

Amidst  joy,  or  weal,  or  woe; 

Till  we  make  our  isle  a  nation  free  and  grand." 

Having  thus  made  a  comparison  of  the  Irish  and 
English  races  on  the  three  qualities  required  to  con- 
stitute a  good  soldier  we  find,  according  to  the  most 
convincing  evidence,  that  the  Irish,  while  not  lacking 
in  coolness,  surpass  the  English  in  bravery  and  d«- 


56  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

termination.  Consequently,  as  they  excel  in  two  out 
of  three  of  the  essential  requisites,  we  must  naturally 
conclude  that  the  Irish  make  the  better  soldiers. 

Even  the  English  themselves  tacitly  acknowledge 
this,  because  in  time  of  trouble  they  are  so  anxious  to 
get  their  Irish  subjects  to  go  and  fight  for  them.  That 
is  about  the  only  time  Ireland  can  get  any  concession 
from  England;  just  as  at  the  present  time,  when  she 
expects  trouble  in  the  East  with  Russia,  she  tries  to 
conciliate  Ireland  by  passing  ''The  Land  Purchase 
Act."  But,  if  the  Irish  are  wise,  they  will  let  England 
henceforth  fight  her  own  battles.  I  suppose  that  the 
Irishmen  who  enter  the  English  army  join  it  because 
they  can  find  nothing  to  do  at  home,  as  industry  is  at 
a  stand-still,  because  of  English  oppression.  No 
doubt  too,  there  are  some  scapegraces  in  Ireland,  as 
in  every  other  country,  who  drift  into  the  army  as 
their  national  goal;  but  they  make  excellent  soldiers 
for  England.  Is  it  not  sad  to  think  that  the  Irish  have 
thus  unintentionally  helped  England  to  crush  many 
another  brave  race  such  as  the  Boers,  just  as  she  has 
oppressed  Ireland  herself?  Only  for  the  help  that 
the  Irish  have  given  thus  to  England,  she  would  be 
down  on  her  knees  long  ago.  She  has  been  living  for 
a  hundred  years  on  the  reputation  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington;  and  Colonel  Blake  who  fought  against 
her,  as  the  leader  of  the  Irish  brigade,  in  the  Boer 
War,  declares  that  the  native  English  soldiers  to-day 
are  a  race  of  degenerates  who  have  greatly  deteriorated 
from  the  standard  of  the  English  soldier  of  days  gone 
by. 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  57 

On  the  other  hand,  all  the  great  generals  that  have 
won  fame  and  renown  for  England  during  the  past 
century  were  Irishmen,  from  Lord  Wellington  who 
conquered  the  great  Napoleon,  down  to  Lord  Wolsey 
and  even  still  later  to  Lord  Roberts  and  Lord  Kit- 
chener, who  recently  conquered  the  Boers.  No  doubt 
the  English  will  say  that  all  these  were  of  English 
descent;  but  it  will  be  very  hard  for  them  to  answer 
the  question:  ''Why  does  not  the  English  race  pro- 
duce such  heroes  at  home?  Why  must  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  be  transplanted  over  in  Ireland  in  order  to 
reach  his  highest  development?  We  should  imagine 
that  if  there  is  any  virtue  in  a  race  at  all  it  would  mani- 
fest itself  in  its  native  soil.  It  is  clear  therefore  that 
England  has  to  go  to  Ireland  for  her  mihtary  geniuses ; 
for  Erin  with  her  lovely  vales  and  her  pure  air  is  the 
natural  home  of  heroes. 

Since  then  the  English  have  no  reason  to  lord  it 
over  the  Irish  from  an  exhaustive  comparison  of  their 
respective  achievements  in  war;  they  will  have  to  fall 
back  now  on  their  second  argument,  their  achieve- 
ments in  peace.  So  in  the  succeeding  chapters  we 
shall  have  to  compare  the  alleged  prosperity  of  Eng- 
land and  her  success  in  the  arts  and  sciences  with  the 
alleged  poverty  and  illiteracy  of  Ireland. 


PART  II. 


CHAPTER  L 

The  Poverty  of  the  Irish. 

THE  second  great  argument  advanced  by  the 
Anglo-Saxons  to  prove  their  superiority  over 
the  Celtic  race  is  the  prosperity  of  the  English 
and  the  poverty  of  the  Irish.  It  is  an  indisputable 
fact  that  England  is  a  far  more  prosperous  country 
than  Ireland.  Everyone  admits  that.  The  most 
unprejudiced  travellers  tell  us  of  the  enterprise,  the 
industry,  and  the  prosperity  witnessed  in  the  most 
comfortable  homes  in  England ;  whilst  in  Ireland  they 
saw  nothing  but  poverty,  squalor,  stagnation,  and 
decay.  What  wonder  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  speaks 
of  his  country  as  "Merry  England,"  whilst  Ireland  is 
described  as 

"The  most  distressful  country  that  ever  you  have 
seen!" 

Before  investigating  the  cause  of  these  diverse  con- 
ditions in  the  two  countries,  it  may  be  well  to  remem- 
ber that  poverty  and  riches  are  a  very  poor  criterion 
by  which  to  judge  a  nation  or  an  individual.  All 
philosophers  and  Holy  Scripture  itself  tell  us  not  to 
judge  a  man  by  the  coat  he  wears.  Did  not  the  great 
Diogenes  live  in  a  tub  as  a  dwelUng  ?  Yet  Alexander 
the  Great  declared  that  if  he  were  not  Alexander  he 
would  like  to  be  Diogenes.  But  a  still  more  striking 
example  was  our  Divine  Saviour  Himself , Who,  though 
the  Lord  of  all  creation  and  Master  of  the  thousands 


62  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

of  bright  spheres  that  revolve  in  the  vast  reahns  of 
space,  could  truly  say:  ''The  foxes  have  their  dens 
and  the  birds  of  the  air  their  nests ;  but  the  Son  of  Man 
hath  not  where  to  lay  His  head." 

Yet,  some  people  are  continually  reproaching  the 
Irish  with  their  poverty,  as  if  it  were  a  great  disgrace 
to  be  poor.  But  honest  poverty  is  no  disgrace;  on 
the  contrary  it  makes  them  more  like  our  Blessed 
Saviour  Himself.  The  only  poverty  that  is  disgraceful 
is  that  which  people  have  brought  upon  themselves  by 
their  own  prodigality,  intoxication,  and  debauchery. 
That  is  criminal,  but  poverty  that  is  unavoidable 
through  sickness  or  misfortune,  in  spite  of  industry, 
temperance,  and  economy  is  truly  honorable.  Thanks 
be  to  God,  with  very  few  exceptions,  the  Irish  people 
have  no  reason  to  be  ashamed  of  their  poverty.  In- 
deed, I  sincerely  beheve  that  it  is  mainly  due  to  their 
poverty  that  the  Irish  people  have  always  remained 
so  faithful  to  their  holy  religion,  whilst  other  nations 
more  prosperous  have  made  shipwreck  of  the  faith. 
It  is  their  poverty  that  has  always  preserved  in  their 
hearts  that  spirit  of  humility  which  is  the  foundation 
of  all  virtue;  and  on  whom  does  God  shower  down 
His  heavenly  gifts  but  on  the  meek  and  lowly  of  heart  ? 
Our  Blessed  Saviour  Himself  said:  ''Blessed  are  the 
poor  in  spirit,  for  their 's  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
So  the  Irish,  though  poor  in  earthly  possessions,  are 
rich  in  the  gifts  of  heaven. 

It  will  not  be  at  all  to  the  advantage  of  the  Irish 
people  if  they  lose  this  spirit  of  poverty.  If  ever  they 
become  rich  and  wealthy,  then  farewell  to  their  faith ! 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  65 

St.  Paul  tells  us  that  ''They  who  become  rich  fall  into 
temptations  and  into  the  snare  of  the  devil,  and  into 
many  unprofitable  and  hurtful  desires  which  drown 
men  into  perdition  and  destruction."  Does  not  ex- 
perience prove  this  ?  Look  at  those  Irish  people  and 
their  descendants  who  have  become  w^ealthy  in  the 
United  States!  What  has  become  of  their  faith? 
With  some  honorable  exceptions,  either  they  or  their 
children  are  lost  to  the  Church;  for  as  soon  as  they 
became  rich  they  considered  that  their  poor  Catholic 
neighbors  were  no  longer  fit  to  associate  with  them, 
so  they  began  to  form  non-Catholic  acquaintances, 
and  then  by  entering  into  marriages  with  Protestants 
they  lost  the  faith. 

So  I  confidently  trust  that  our  Irish  people  will 
never  become  over-burdened  with  wealth.  I  should 
like  to  see  them  comfortably  situated,  with  a  nice 
neat  home  and  a  modest  competence,  sufficient  to 
maintain  themselves  and  their  famiHes  in  frugal  com- 
fort, but  no  more.  That  is  all  that  our  Saviour  directs 
us  to  pray  for:     ''Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread." 

Yet,  some  of  our  leading  Irish  statesmen  in  this 
country  are  constantly  bemoaning  that  the  Irish  race 
are  falling  behind  in  the  great  industrial  struggle  in 
the  United  States.  Let  the  struggle  rage!  The  Irish 
people  are  striving  for  something  better.  Instead  of 
building  for  themselves  houses  on  this  earth  made  by 
human  hands,  they  are  building  mansions  in  heaven. 
Instead  of  accumulating  for  themselves  the  dust  of 
this  world,  which  men  call  gold  and  silver,  they  are 
laying  up  for  themselves  treasures  in  heaven,  "where 


64  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

neither  moth  nor  rust  doth  corrupt  nor  thieves  break 
through  and  steal. ' '  Look  at  all  the  churches,  schools, 
and  convents  which  the  Irish  have  erected  out  of  their 
poverty  all  over  the  world!  What  wonder  that  the 
renegade  Catholic,  Michael  McCarthy,  in  his  venem- 
ous  book  entitled:  ''The  Priests  and  People  of 
Ireland,"  declares  that  it  is  the  Church  which  has 
impoverished  the  Irish  people.  But  even  if  the  base 
charge  were  true — happy!  yea,  thrice  happy  the 
race  that  has  become  poor  for  the  glory  of  the  Saviour, 
Who  became  so  poor  for  us !  In  what  better  way  could 
they  spend  their  means  than  for  the  glory  of  God,  the 
spread  of  his  holy  religion,  and  the  salvation  of  souls  ? 
But  let  us  now  inquire  what  is  the  real  cause  of  the 
poverty  and  distress  of  the  great  majority  of  the  Irish 
people.  It  would  be  unfair  to  say  that  it  is  due  to 
any  one  cause;  but,  like  most  other  things,  it  can  be 
traced  to  a  variety  of  sources.  We  must  candidly 
but  regretfully  admit  that  a  great  deal  of  it  is  due  to 
the  undeniable  weakness  of  our  race  for  intoxicating 
liquor.  That  is  the  curse  which  has  undoubtedly 
held  them  back  for  centuries  and  has  done  much  to 
impede  their  progress  in  the  great  industrial  race  in 
this  country.  But  for  their  propensity  to  intoxicating 
liquor,  the  Irish  would  be  the  greatest  power  in  this 
country  to-day.  They  have  all  the  qualities  necessary 
to  win  success.  They  have  the  brain,  the  brawn, 
and  the  industry.  All  that  is  necessary  to  win  success 
with  these  is  sobriety.  Through  lack  of  this  cardinal 
virtue  the  Irish  are  falling  behind  other  nationalities 
in  the  great  industrial  race;   and  the  Hebrews,  the 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  65 

Italians,  and  the  French,  though  later  arrivals  in 
New  England,  are  rapidly  forging  ahead  of  them. 
Yet,  to  give  the  Irish  their  due,  it  must  be  acknowl- 
edged that  these  other  races  have  not  been  at  all 
handicapped  by  their  devotion  to  their  religion,  as 
the  Irish  people  have  been ;  for  not  only  have  the  Irish 
built  fine  churches  for  themselves  but  for  the  French 
and  the  Italians  as  well.  French  and  Italian  priests 
in  Boston  admit  that  most  of  the  contributions  for 
their  churches  came  from  the  generous  Irish  people. 

Some  of  our  English  cousins  tell  us  that  another 
great  cause  of  poverty  among  the  Irish  is  their  lack  of 
industry,  in  other  words  their  laziness.  But  I  believe 
there  is  a  far  more  deep-lying  cause  than  either  of 
these,  and  that  is  the  robbery  and  spoliation  of  the 
Irish  people  by  a  tyrannical  English  Government,  for 
hundreds  of  years.  That  is  the  causa  causarum,  the 
radix  or  root  to  which  all  other  causes  may  be  traced. 

How  can  we  expect  a  man  who  has  been  waylaid 
by  a  highway  robber  and  despoiled  of  all  his  posses- 
sions to  be  rich?  What  a  mockery  for  a  burglar 
after  he  has  rendered  his  victim  unconscious  with  a 
club  to  say:  "Why  don't  you  stand  on  your  feet  and 
walk  like  everybody  else?"  That,  in  a  nutshell,  is 
the  way  that  England  has  treated  Ireland.  She  has 
robbed  her  not  only  once  but  a  dozen  times  and  then 
reproached  her  for  her  poverty  saying:  "You  miser- 
able, unfortunate  beggar!  why  are  you  not  rich  and 
merry  hke  me?"  In  fact  the  history  of  Ireland  for 
seven  centuries  is  but  one  continual  act  of  spoliation 
and  robbery  on  the  part  of  England. 


66  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Ireland  was  first  despoiled  by  Henry  II.  and  the 
Normans;  then  by  Henry  VIII.;  but  that  was  nothing 
to  the  devastation  of  the  whole  island  with  fire  and 
sword,  from  one  end  to  the  other,  under  Queen 
Elizabeth  and  her  successor,  James  I.  Five  hundred 
thousand  acres  of  the  richest  lands  in  all  Ireland,  with 
all  the  buildings  erected  upon  them,  were  then  con- 
fiscated and  handed  over  to  Enghsh  and  Scotch  ad- 
venturers, whilst  the  original  Irish  owners  were  turned 
out  upon  the  roadside  to  starve  or  to  be  hunted  down 
like  beasts  of  prey  by  the  new  settlers. 

Yet,  even  the  spoliations  of  the  vindictive  Elizabeth 
pale  into  insignificance  in  comparison  with  those  of 
the  butcher  Cromwell.  Everybody  knows  how  he 
confiscated  the  three  fairest  out  of  the  four  provinces 
of  Ireland  and  banished  the  natives  into  the  most 
barren  and  desolate  corner  of  the  island,  telling  them 
to:  " Go  to  Hell  or  Connaught."  The  few  that  were 
permitted  to  remain  were  doomed  to  be  the  serfs  of 
the  new  colonists. 

But  England  did  not  consider  it  sufficient  to  despoil 
and  impoverish  the  Irish;  she  was  determined  that 
she  would  always  keep  them  poor.  So  she  closed  all 
the  avenues  of  industry  against  them.  In  the  reign 
of  King  William  and  Queen  Anne  the  English  Par- 
hament  devised  a  series  of  penal  laws  against  the  Irish 
far  more  severe  than  those  of  Nero  or  Diocletian 
against  the  early  Christians.  Even  the  Devil  himself 
could  scarcely  have  devised  a  more  infamous  series  of 
enactments  to  enslave  a  whole  race.  How  often  at 
the  present  day  we  hear  the  English  reproaching  the 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  67 

Irish  for  their  illiteracy.  Yet  who  is  to  be  blamed  for 
their  ignorance  but  the  EngHsh  themselves;  since  the 
Enghsh  Parliament  under  the  severest  penalty  for- 
bade the  Irish  to  educate  their  children  either  at  home 
or  abroad?  At  the  present  day  too,  how  frequently 
we  hear  the  Irish  reproached  for  their  lack  of  industry; 
but,  again,  who  is  to  blame  for  that  but  the  Enghsh 
hkewise;  for  the  Enghsh  ParHament  took  away  from 
the  Irish  all  incentive  to  industry?  Not  only  were 
they  despoiled  of  their  property  but  they  were  for- 
bidden to  acquire  any  property  in  future  or  even  to 
receive  it  as  a  gift.  An  Irish  Cathohc  was  not  allowed 
to  possess  even  a  horse  worth  more  than  £<,, 

Moreover,  fearing  that  Ireland,  even  in  her  lowly 
state,  might  become  a  dangerous  commercial  rival, 
England  forbade  the  Irish  to  engage  in  any  foreign 
commerce.  Only  the  English  colonists  planted  in 
Ireland  were  allowed  this  privilege.  They  had  a 
monopoly  of  the  trade;  and  yet  EngHsh  writers  even 
at  the  present  day  pretend  to  be  astonished  that  a 
Protestant  city  Hke  Belfast  is  more  thriving  and  pros- 
perous than  a  Catholic  city  hke  Cork.  They  would 
like  to  give  the  impression  that  it  is  all  on  account  of 
the  difference  in  race  and  rehgion — the  enterprising 
spirit  of  the  Protestant  Englishman  and  the  slug- 
gishness of  the  CathoHc  Irishman.  But  nothing 
is  further  from  the  truth.  It  is  all  due  to  the 
merciless  tyranny  of  England  in  treating  the  Irish 
as  a  nation  of  slaves  for  three  hundred  years.  They 
were  just  as  much  enslaved  as  the  Negroes  of  North 
America  were  until  they  were  hberated  by  Abraham 


<)8  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Lincoln.  So  it  was  only  a  little  more  than  half  a 
century  ago  that  the  great  Irish  agitator,  Daniel 
O'Connell,  compelled  an  unwiUing  EngHsh  Parliament 
to  pass  the  great  Irish  Emancipation  Bill,  in  1829; 
and  thus  once  more  restored  to  his  countrymen  the 
dignity  of  freemen. 

No  wonder  then  that  the  Irish  are  poor  as  a  rule 
both  at  home  and  abroad!  The  effects  of  three  cen- 
turies of  slavery  are  not  undone  in  an  hour.  See  how 
long  it  took  the  chosen  people  to  recover  from  the 
effects  of  their  Egyptian  bondage!  They  had  to  re- 
main for  forty  years  in  the  free  air  of  the  desert  and 
one  whole  generation  had  to  pass  away  before  their 
descendants  acquired  the  spirit  and  heart  of  freemen. 
So  when  the  Irish  were  emancipated  seventy-five  years 
ago  they  were  in  no  condition  to  compete  with  their 
Anglo-Saxon  neighbors  in  the  fields  of  industry  and 
commerce. 

The  EngHsh  had  already  acquired  possession  of  all 
the  markets  of  the  world;  whereas  the  Irish,  after 
being  robbed  so  long  by  England,  had  no  capital  to 
start  in  any  great  enterprise  and  even  if  they  had  the 
capital,  they  lacked  the  knowledge  of  the  mechanical 
arts  to  invest  it  to  good  advantage;  as  the  English 
penal  laws  had  so  long  forbidden  them  to  receive 
an  education  or  even  to  learn  a  trade.  So  their  only 
industry  was  the  cultivation  of  the  soil.  Hence  when 
the  great  Irish  exodus  started  to  the  United  States 
in  the  famine  days  of  1847,  the  Irish  found  themselves 
homeless,  friendless,  and  helpless,  cast  on  a  foreign 
shore  without  any  trade  or  education  in  most  cases. 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  69 

The  native  Americans  already  settled  there  had  a 
great  start  ahead  of  them  and  even  foreigners  coming 
from  other  countries  had  generally  the  advantage  of 
an  education  and  a  trade  v^hich  they  had  learned  at 
home.  So  what  remained  for  the  poor  Irish  but  to 
become  the  laborers — "the  hewers  of  wood  and  the 
drawers  of  water"?  What  wonder  then  that  they 
found  it  difi&cult  to  compete  with  other  races  in  the 
great  industrial  struggle  even  up  to  the  present  day! 
However,  in  the  western  portions  of  the  United  States, 
which  have  been  more  recently  settled,  where  the 
Irish  started  more  on  a  footing  of  equality  with  other 
races,  many  Irishmen  have  risen  to  the  very  highest 
position  in  the  state  by  their  industry  and  character. 
There  are  now  many  Irishmen  in  the  West  who  are 
multi-millionaires.  Among  others  may  be  mentioned 
Mr.  Cudahy  of  Chicago.  But  even  here  in  the  East, 
in  spite  of  every  disadvantage,  have  we  not  many 
Irish  millionaires  too,  notably  Mr.  Cremins  of  New 
York  and  Mr.  Prendergast  of  Boston  ?  Have  not  two 
Irishmen,  Mr.  O'Brien  and  Mr.  Collins  been  more 
than  once  elected  mayor  of  the  Puritan  city  of  Boston; 
and  who  has  more  influence  in  the  halls  of  Congress 
at  Washington  than  another  Irishman,  the  great 
orator,  Mr.  Burke  Cockran  ?  Who  then  will  presume 
to  say  that  Irishmen,  given  an  equal  opportunity, 
cannot  compete  with  any  other  race  on  the  face  of 
the  earth? 

But  why  cannot  Irishmen  be  as  successful  as  this 
at  home?  Because  the  opportunity  is  denied  them 
by  the  English  Government.     Though  for  over  a  half 


7©  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

century  the  Irish  are  nominally  under  the  very  same 
laws  as  govern  the  Enghsh,  just  as  it  is  hard  for  an 
athlete  to  overtake  a  sprinter  who  has  a  mile  handicap, 
so  it  will  be  a  long  time  before  the  Irish  can  compete 
with  the  English,  after  all  the  laws  of  repression  passed 
by  an  English  Parliament  against  Irish  commerce 
and  in  favor  of  English  industry. 

Even  yet  the  Irish  have  many  disadvantages  to- 
contend  with  from  which  the  English  are  entirely 
free.  Only  a  few  years  ago,  Mr.  John  Redmond, 
M.  P.,  had  a  royal  commission  appointed  to  investi- 
gate the  financial  relations  between  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland;  and,  although  the  commission  was  composed 
almost  entirely  of  Englishmen,  it  reported  prac- 
tically unanimously  that  Ireland  was  taxed  every 
year  upwards  of  $12,500,000  above  her  proportionate 
share  of  so-called  imperial  taxation.  Yet  nothing 
has  since  been  done  to  redress  this  crying  injustice. 

No  wonder  then  that  the  Irish  are  poor!  They 
will  always  remain  so  until  Ireland  becomes  again  an 
independent  nation.  No  country  that  has  been  held 
in  subjection  by  another  country  has  ever  prospered. 
Look  at  Canada — a  great  country  almost  as  rich  in 
natural  resources  as  the  United  States  and  far  larger. 
Yet  the  United  States  has  over  70,000,000  of  people, 
most  of  them  quite  prosperous  and  Canada  has  only 
5,000,000.  Even  of  these  few  millions  there  is  a 
regular  exodus  every  year  to  the  United  States;  and 
Canada  would  soon  be  depopulated  but  for  her 
European  emigration.  Why  this  disparity  between 
Canada  and  the  United  States?     Because  the  United 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  71 

States  is  an  independent  country,  where  there  is  an 
incentive  to  industry;  because  the  people  know  that 
they  are  working  for  themselves;  but  in  Canada  there 
is  no  incentive  to  industry,  because  the  Canadians 
know  that  the  fruits  of  their  industry  will  not  be  for 
themselves,  but  to  enrich  "Mother  England." 

A  similar  condition  still  exists  in  Ireland.  What 
incentive  has  an  Irishman  to  work  when  he  knows 
that  all  the  profits  of  his  labor  will  go  into  the  land- 
lord's pocket?  Even  if  he  makes  a  little  improve- 
ment on  his  land,  the  landlord  will  raise  the  rent  on 
the  pretext  that  his  holding  is  worth  now  more  than 
before.  Thus  the  Irish  farmer  is  taxed  for  his  own 
industry.  What  motive  is  there  then  to  impel  the 
Irish  to  be  industrious?  Can  we  be  astonished 
therefore  if  there  is  some  truth  in  the  English 
accusation  that  the  Irish  are  not  an  industrious 
people  ? 

Not  only  have  they  the  English  landlords  to  support 
but  an  EngHsh  garrison  as  well,  comprising  the  Lord- 
Lieutenant  and  13,000  constabulary.  That  poor 
degenerate  Irishman,  Mr.  McCarthy,  already  referred 
to  in  this  chapter,  has  made  the  allegation  that  it  is 
the  Irish  priests  that  have  impoverished  the  Irish 
people.  Now  certainly  the  priests  of  Boston  receive 
as  much  salary  as  the  priests  in  Ireland;  and  the  salary 
of  a  secular  priest  in  this  city  is  only  $600  a  year. 
Who  would  call  that  too  much  salary  for  a  man  who 
spends  so  many  years  in  training  as  a  priest  does? 
Indeed  it  does  not  deserve  to  be  called  salary  at  all. 
It  is  simply  intended  to  pay  his  expenses.     But  the 


72  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

priest  in  a  religious  order  gets  no  salary  at  all  but  only 
his  miserable  subsistence. 

On  the  contrary,  the  salary  of  the  Irish  Lord- 
Lieutenant  is  ;g2o,ooo  or  $100,000  a  year.  Just 
think  of  it!  the  ruler  of  a  Httle  island  only  three  hundred 
miles  long  getting  twice  the  salary  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States  with  its  seventy  millions  of  people ! 
Thus  the  salary  of  the  Irish  viceroy  alone  would  pay 
the  salary  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  secular 
priests  or  any  number  of  regulars.  Yet  besides  the 
Lord-Lieutenant  there  are  in  Ireland  twenty-three 
English  judges  of  the  superior  court  who  receive  a 
salary  of  from  ;^2,ooo  to  ;£8,ooo  a  year,  besides  a 
host  of  minor  magistrates.  Add  to  this  the  salary  of 
thirteen  thousand  constabulary,  who  are  of  no  benefit 
to  the  people  but  are  there  only  to  dragoon  them  and 
force  upon  them  the  odious  laws  of  England ;  and  then 
answer  if  it  is  true,  according  to  Mr.  McCarthy,  that 
the  Irish  give:  ''Every  Penny  to  the  Church."  After 
ilhey  have  paid  the  salaries  of  the  English  garrison, 
we  may  be  sure  that  they  have  very  little  left  for  the 
Church  or  anything  else. 

That  is  the  reason  why  Mr.  McCarthy  himself  had 
to  abandon  his  profession  of  law  and  turn  to  writing 
books  for  the  English  pubHc ;  because  his  own  country- 
men did  not  have  the  means  to  employ  him,  after  they 
had  satisfied  the  English  tax-gatherer,  if  indeed  it  is 
ever  possible  to  satisfy  that  individual.  A  short  time 
ago  I  had  a  conversation  with  an  Irish  priest  who  was 
taking  up  a  collection  for  his  church  in  this  country. 
Now  that  priest  was  a  cousin  of  this  McCarthy  who 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  73 

wrote  that  vile  book  against  the  priests  and  people 
of  Ireland;  and  he  told  me  that  "though  McCarthy 
was  his  cousin  there  was  a  yellow  streak  in  him  and 
his  father  before  him."  "McCarthy,"  he  said,  "is  a 
clever  young  Irishman  who  graduated  from  Trinity 
College,  Dublin.  That  of  course  is  an  English  and 
Protestant  institution;  but  whether  he  imbibed  his 
vile  principles  there  or  not  I  cannot  say;  as  many 
Irishmen  have  m  recent  years  graduated  there  and 
still  remained  loyal  to  faith  and  fatherland.  At  any 
rate,  after  his  graduation  McCarthy,  like  a  great  many 
other  young  lawyers,  found  that  he  could  get  very 
little  to  do  in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  In  a 
word  he  became  a  '  briefless  barrister. '  So  he  thought 
that  he  might  win  the  attention  of  the  English  Govern- 
ment, and  perhaps  be  appointed  a  magistrate,  if  he 
should  write  a  book  against  the  Home-Rule  move- 
ment in  Ireland.  Hence  he  soon  became  the  author 
of: '  Five  Years  in  Ireland , '  which  was  a  most  scathing 
attack  on  the  political  aspirations  of  the  Irish  people. 
Yet  the  English  Government  took  no  notice  of  it  and 
the  magistracy  that  he  longed  for  never  came. 

"So  McCarthy  next  penned  a  still  more  venomous 
book  entitled:  'The  Priests  and  People  of  Ireland.'  " 
No  more  dastardly  attack  was  ever  made  by  human 
hand  upon  the  race  and  religion  of  his  countrymen. 
I  do  not  say  that  every  word  in  that  book  is  a  bare- 
faced lie.  No  doubt  there  is  some  foundation  in  fact; 
but  what  little  grain  of  truth  there  is  in  it  is  so  en- 
veloped in  the  chaff  of  error,  exaggeration,  and  mis- 
representation that  it  will  do  far  more  harm  than  an 


74  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

open  calumny.  Nothing  is  more  dangerous  than  a 
half-truth.  A  direct  calumny  can  be  easily  refuted; 
but  Mr.  McCarthy's  stock  in  trade  in  attacking  the 
Irish  priests  and  people  consists  in  putting  a  false 
construction  on  their  actions  and  a  wrong  interpreta- 
tion on  their  motives;  in  passing  over  their  virtues  en- 
tirely and  putting  the  few  petty  little  faults  which  they 
have  under  a  magnifying  glass. 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  refute  one  by  one  the  charges 
which  he  makes.  That  would  be  an  endless  chain; 
but  what  I  do  criticise  is  the  method  he  follows. 
According  to  the  same  method  I  might  get  a  powerful 
telescope,  search  out  the  spots  on  the  sun  and  con- 
vince myself  that  it  is  all  black  and  that  there  is  not 
a  single  luminous  point  in  it.  On  the  same  principle 
I  might  paint  the  character  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  so 
black  that  there  would  not  be  a  single  redeeming 
feature  in  it.  If  an  Englishman  wrote  a  book  like 
McCarthy's  about  England  he  would  be  thrown  into 
the  Thames. 

The  best  way  to  judge  of  a  book  is  from  the  im- 
pression it  creates.  It  is  therefore  sufficient  con- 
demnation of  McCarthy's  book  that  it  has  made  his 
countrymen — the  few  that  read  it — sad,  and  the 
enemies  of  his  country  to  rejoice.  What  greater  con- 
demnation for  any  book?  After  reading  that  book 
the  question  naturally  arises:  "I  wonder  if  there  is 
any  good  at  all  among  the  priests  and  people  of  Ire- 
land," or  as  one  witty  priest  has  said:  "Is  it  not  a 
wonder  that  God  allows  such  a  people  to  live  at  all?'* 
The  natural  inference  that  you  derive  from  the  book 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  75 

is  that  there  is  only  one  good  and  wise  man  in  the 
whole  island  and  that  is  Michael  McCarthy. 

Has  McCarthy  got  no  scruples  of  conscience  in 
thus  blackening  the  character  of  his  countrymen? 
What  does  he  care?  His  book  aroused  the  curiosity 
of  the  English  Protestant  Bible  societies  and  passed 
through  several  editions.  So  the  shekels  soon  began 
to  pour  in  upon  him  and  he  found  this  much  more 
lucrative  than  to  practice  law  among  his  impoverished 
countrymen.  Accordingly,  he  promises  to  publish 
another  book  still  more  sensational  before  very  long. 

What  worse  indictment  can  be  found  against  the 
EngHsh  misgovernment  of  Ireland  than  that  a  talented 
young  Irishman  can  find  no  more  profitable  way  of 
earning  a  liveHhood  than  in  traducing  his  own  country- 
men? Indeed  England  has  always  encouraged  such 
disgraceful  proceedings ,  following  out  her  well-known 
policy:  "Divide  and  Conquer."  We  know  how  in 
the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth  the  children  of  Irish 
parents  were  often  taken  over  to  England  and  trained 
up  in  hatred  and  horror  of  their  native  land,  so  that 
they  might  afterwards  serve  as  England's  tools  against 
their  countrymen.  In  fact  one  man  called  Murrough 
O'Brien,  brought  up  in  this  way,  was  afterwards  sent 
over  to  Ireland  under  the  title  of  Lord  Inchiquin ,  and 
butchered  his  own  countrymen,  men,  women,  and 
children,  aye  the  very  priests  at  the  altar,  in  cold 
blood. 

We  can  now  understand  how  Ireland  could  produce 
such  a  creature  as  Michael  McCarthy.  But  still, 
what  a  despicable  fellow  he  must  be  to  make  capital 


76  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

by  ruining  the  character  of  his  fellow-men!     As    a 
well-known  English  poet  has  said: 

"Who  stealeth  from  me  my  purse  steals  trash; 

But  he  that  filcheth  from  me  my  good  name 

Deprives  me  of  that  which  not  enricheth  him  and 
makes  me  poor  indeed." 
But  what  shall  we  say  when  this  base  calumny  is 
uttered  against  a  man's  own  countrymen  in  order  to 
please  her  traditional  foes?  Dermot  McMurrough  is 
called  a  traitor,  because  he  turned  his  arms  against 
his  own  countrymen;  but  if  the  pen  is  mightier  than 
the  sword,  what  kind  of  a  double-dyed  traitor  is 
Michael  McCarthy  who  turns  his  weapons  not  only 
against  his  own  country  but  what  is  still  more  sacred, 
his  own  religion  also? 

Worse  still,  whilst  making  this  attack  he  has  the 
effrontery  to  remain  within  his  country's  gates  and 
to  declare  that  he  is  still  "a  true  Irishman  and  a  true 
Catholic."  If  he  only  had  the  sense  of  decency  to 
renounce  his  religion  and  his  country  before  assailing 
them,  there  might  be  some  palliation  of  his  conduct; 
but  no  doubt  he  is  fully  aware  that  an  enemy  within 
can  do  far  more  harm  than  an  enemy  from  without. 
So  under  the  guise  of  friendship  he  gives  his  religion 
and  nationality  the  kiss  of  Judas. 

If  an  Enghshman  had  written  such  a  book  everyone 
would  say  that  it  was  due  to  his  national  prejudices; 
but  as  it  was  written  by  a  man  professing  to  be  a  true 
Irishman  and  a  true  CathoHc  people  will  say:  ''Surely 
he  must  be  a  good  authority  " ;  and  thus  there  is  danger 
that  it  will  do  a  great  deal  of  injury  to  our  race  in  the 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  77 

English-speaking  world.  Yet  it  is  very  evident  from 
the  rancour  of  his  style  that  McCarthy  is  neither  a 
true  Irishman  nor  a  true  Catholic.  If  he  ever  pos- 
sessed the  Catholic  faith  at  all,  it  is  very  manifest 
that  he  has  lost  it  completely.  What  can  we  think 
of  a  man  professing  to  be  a  Catholic  who  declares 
that:  ''A  simple  prayer  said  by  an  Irish  hedge  on  a 
Sunday  morning  is  just  as  good  as  the  Holy  Sacrifice 
of  the  Mass  "  ?  WTiat  can  we  think  of  a  Catholic  who 
is  offended  at  the  number  of  churches  erected  to  the 
glory  of  God  and  who  declares  that  the  money  might 
be  spent  better  to  relieve  the  poor?  Was  not  that 
the  argument  of  Judas  just  before  he  betrayed  our 
Lord?  He  was  offended  because  Mary  Magdalen 
poured  the  precious  ointment  on  our  Saviour's  head, 
saying:  ''This  might  be  sold  for  much  and  given  to 
the  poor."  But  our  Saviour  rephed:  "The  poor 
you  have  always  with  you;  but  Me  you  have  not  always 
with  you." 

Neither  does  McCarthy  deserve  to  be  called  ''a 
true  Irishman";  for  a  true  patriot  never  reviles  his 
country.  If  he  thinks  she  is  going  wrong  he  may 
criticise  her,  yet  with  kindness  and  forbearance;  but 
he  will  never  flaunt  her  faults  before  the  whole  civil- 
ized world.  As  a  distinguished  American  has  well 
said,  the  patriot's  motto  should  be:  "May  my  country 
always  be  right;  but  right  or  wrong  it  is  always  my 
country."  The  great  Jewish  historian,  Josephus  is 
sometimes  accused  of  exhibiting  in  his  writings  a 
certain  spirit  of  hostility  to  his  own  countrymen  and 
of  partiality  for  her  enemies;  but  there  was  some  ex- 


78  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

cuse  for  him;  as  he  was  an  exile  and  a  captive.  Yet 
even  Josephus  gave  utterance  to  these  noble  words: 
''May  I  never  become  so  debased  a  slave  as  to  revile 
my  country  or  forget  my  native  land." 

Shades  of  Josephus!  Where  is  the  patriotism  of 
McCarthy  who  has  not  a  word  of  praise  even  for  the 
beautiful  valleys  and  charming  scenery  of  his  native 
land?  As  the  great  Scottish  poet,  Sir  Walter  Scott, 
has  well  said: 

"Breathes  there  a  man  with  soul  so  dead 
Who  never  to  himself  hath  said: 
'This  is  my  own,  my  native  land,' 
Whose  heart  hath  ne'er  within  him  burned; 
As  home  his  footsteps  he  hath  turned, 
From  wandering  on  a  foreign  strand?" 

"If  such  there  be,  go!  mark  him  well. 
For  him  no  minstrel  raptures  swell; 
High  though  his  titles,  proud  his  name, 
Boundless  his  wealth  as  wish  can  claim; 
Despite  these  titles,  power  and  pelf. 
The  wretch  concentred  all  in  self. 
Living  shall  forfeit  fair  renown 
And  doubly  dying  shall  go  down 
To  the  vile  dust  from  whence  he  sprung  > 
Unwept,  unhonored,  and  unsung." 

So  wiU  Mr.  McCarthy  go  down  to  the  vile  dust  as 
the  traducer  of  his  native  land,  its  priests,  and  people. 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  79 

Though  he  has  not  said  anything  new,  but  only  re- 
hashed the  same  old  calumnies  that  the  English  have 
been  circulating  against  the  Irish  for  hundreds  of 
years;  yet  coming  from  the  lips  of  an  Irishman  him- 
self these  old  accusations  will  be  doubly  harmful  in 
their  new  disguise.  But  certainly,  no  Enghshman 
has  ever  written  against  the  Irish  people  with  half  the 
bitterness  that  this  denationahzed  Irishman  has  em- 
ployed against  his  own  race.  On  the  contrary,  many 
Enghsh  travellers  who  have  passed  through  Ireland, 
especially  in  recent  years,  have  spoken  in  very  com- 
plimentary terms  of  the  inhabitants  thereof. 

Froude  is  not  generally  considered  a  very  dear 
friend  of  the  Irish;  yet  he  marvels  at  the  extraordinary 
honesty  of  the  people  saying:  "They  sleep  without 
any  bolts  on  their  doors  or  fastenings  on  their  windows 
as  securely  as  if  they  were  with  the  angels  in  paradise." 
Still  more  complimentary  to  the  Irish  people  is  the 
account  of  them  which  the  Enghsh  writer  Thackeray 
has  left  us  in  his  ''Irish  Sketch  Book."  If  only  Mr. 
McCarthy  had  read  that  book  it  would  make  him  so 
proud  of  his  native  land,  its  priests,  and  people  that 
it  is  extremely  doubtful  if  he  would  ever  have  published 
his  infamous  book  entitled:  ''The  Priests  and  People 
of  Ireland." 

Besides  reaping  a  rich  harvest  from  the  English 
reading  pubUc,  it  would  seem  as  if  the  second  object 
of  McCarthy's  book  was  to  divide  the  priests  and 
people  of  Ireland;  to  set  the  laity  against  the  clergy, 
as  the  apostate  Combes  is  endeavoring  to  do  in  France 
at  the  present  day,  by  striving  to  persuade  the  people 


8o  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

that  it  is  the  Church  and  not  the  tyranny  of  the  govern- 
ment that  is  the  cause  of  their  poverty.  But  it  will 
require  more  than  McCarthy  to  antagonize  the  people 
against  the  priests.  The  people  know  well  that  their 
clergy  take  very  Httle  from  them  in  return  for  all  that 
they  do  for  them;  and  of  what  little  they  do  take  very 
little  indeed  is  for  themselves.  It  is  spent  for  the 
glory  of  God  in  building  or  repairing  churches,  schools, 
and  convents.  Thus  it  returns  again  to  the  people  in 
furnishing  useful  employment  for  carpenters,  brick- 
layers, and  laborers.  The  people  know  very  well,  too, 
that  they  would  spend  far  more  in  one  law-suit  in 
hiring  a  lawyer  like  McCarthy  than  they  would  be 
called  upon  to  contribute  to  the  Church  for  years. 
The  people  know  also  how  many  vexatious  law-suits 
they  are  spared  by  the  kindly  arbitration  of  their 
priests,  who  settle  many  a  quarrel  of  their  parishioners 
out  of  court  without  any  expense  to  them.  Perhaps 
that  is  one  of  the  reasons  that  makes  Mr.  McCarthy 
so  extremely  bitter  in  his  book  against  the  priests; 
because  unintentionally  they  have  kept  him  from 
exploiting  the  people. 

Oh!  no  Mr.  McCarthy,  you  cannot  deceive  the 
Irish  people  as  easily  as  that.  They  know  that  their 
priests  are  their  best  friends,  to  whom  they  naturally 
turn  for  consolation  in  the  hour  of  their  greatest  need, 
the  hour  of  sickness  and  death.  It  is  then  they  thank 
God  that  they  have  their  soggarih  aroon  by  their  side ; 
and  he  never  refuses  to  come,  no  matter  how  loathsome 
or  dangerous  the  disease;  no  matter  how  biting  the 
frost  on  a  cold  winter's  night. 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  8i 

"Who  was  it  on  a  winter's  night, 

Soggarth  aroon, 
When  the  cold  blast  did  bite, 

Soggarth  aroon; 
Came  to  my  cabin  door; 
And  on  my  earthen  floor. 
Knelt  by  me  sick  and  poor, 

Soggarth  aroon?" 

What  wonder  that  the  Irish  people  love  their  priests! 
What  wonder  that  the  tender  affection  they  cherish 
for  their  clergy  is  the  cause  of  no  httle  envy  in  the 
hearts  of  non-Catholics  and  renegades  from  the 
Catholic  Church!  But  there  is  one  thing  that  the 
Irish  people  will  never  forget;  and  that  is  an  act  of 
kindness  done  them.  They  know  that  their  priests 
did  not  forsake  them  when  they  had  nothing  to  hope 
for  from  their  flock;  and  when  the  same  reward  was 
offered  for  the  head  of  a  priest  as  for  the  head  of  a 
wolf.  Yet  the  priests  braved  death  itself  in  order  to 
offer  up  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass  for  their  flock, 
in  the  depths  of  the  forest,  in  the  caverns  of  the  earth, 
or  on  the  lonely  mountain  side. 

No  wonder  that  the  generous-hearted  Irish  people 
sometimes  show  their  appreciation  by  remembering 
their  priests  in  their  wills,  even  though  it  should  shock 
the  tender  heart  of  Mr.  McCarthy!  It  is  very  seldom 
indeed  that  the  Irish,  after  satisfying  the  demands  of 
the  English  Government,  have  the  means  thus  to  show 
their  gratitude  to  their  clergy;  but  if  in  one  case  out  of 
a  hundred,  a  wealthy  man  should  leave  a  little  money 


82  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

for  Masses,  for  the  repose  of  his  soul  to  what  better 
use  could  he  put  it  ?  Do  we  not  read  in  Holy  Scripture 
itself  that:  "It  is  a  holy  and  a  wholesome  thought 
to  pray  for  the  dead  that  they  may  be  loosed  from 
their  sins"? 

However,  Mr.  McCarthy  says  that  it  would  be  better 
to  leave  the  money  to  the  poor.  But  the  best  way  to 
reach  the  poor  is  through  the  priests,  since  they  are 
always  giving  to  the  poor,  though  of  course  they  do 
not  sound  a  trumpet  before  them  every  time  they  give 
an  alms.  Our  CathoHc  people  of  means  know  this 
full  well,  and  that  is  why  they  sometimes  leave  a  be- 
quest to  their  priests;  because  they  know  they  will 
put  it  to  the  very  best  use. 

We  cannot  better  conclude  this  chapter  than  by 
referring  to  the  beautiful  poem  of  the  late  John  Boyle 
O'ReiUy  entitled:  "The  Priests  of  Ireland."  If  only 
Mr.  McCarthy  would  read  that  grand  production, 
I  have  no  doubt  that  it  would  be  of  great  benefit  to 
him.  What  a  contrast  between  McCarthy's  splenetic 
attack  on  the  Irish  priests  and  John  Boyle  O'Reilly's 
noble,  soul-stirring,  eulogium: 

"Heaven  bless  you,  priests  of  Ireland, 

You,  the  soggarth  in  the  famine  and  the  helper  in  the 

frost; 
You,  whose  shadow  was  a  comfort  when  all  other 
hope  was  lost." 

There  is  just  as  much  contrast  between  John  Boyle 
O'Reilly's  estimate  of  the  Irish  priests  and  Michael 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  83 

McCarthy's  as  there  is  between  the  character  of  these 
two  gentlemen  themselves.  McCarthy  seems  to  be 
a  poor  soul  that  has  shrunken  away  under  the  tyranny 
of  the  British  Government,  and  is  now  so  shrivelled 
up  that  it  actually  prefers  to  be  in  bondage;  but  the 
most  debased  slave  of  all  is  the  one  that  kisses  the 
chains  which  bind  him.  O'Reilly  on  the  other  hand 
was  a  grand,  fearless,  and  noble  character,  who  hated 
the  English  Government  as  the  cause  of  all  the  poverty 
and  misery  of  the  Irish  people,  but  loved  his  priests 
as  the  greatest  benefactors  of  his  race.  Whom  shall 
we  believe,  Michael  McCarthy  or  John  Boyle 
O'Reillv? 


CHAPTER  II. 

Prosperity  of  England. 

AS  we  intimated  in  our  previous  chapter,  it  would 
be  manifestly  unfair  to  compare  a  free  and  inde- 
pendent country  with  one  that  has  lost  its  in- 
dependence and  has  been  for  centuries  ground 
down  in  the  dust.  In  all  ages  the  loss  of  a  coun- 
try's freedom  has  affected  it  like  a  blight  upon  the 
crops.  Just  as  soon  as  the  blight  falls  upon  the 
crops  they  begin  to  wither  and  decay.  So  when- 
ever a  country  lost  its  independence,  it  invariably 
ceased  to  develop  and  straightway  entered  on  its 
downward  course.  Thus  Persia,  Greece,  Rome,  and 
Carthage  were  great  and  prosperous  as  long  as 
they  retained  their  freedom,  but  what  are  they 
to-day  ?  So  to  compare  the  prosperity  of  Ireland  and 
England  at  the  present  time  would  be  the  same  as 
comparing  the  twelfth  century  with  the  twentieth; 
for  Erin  has  never  made  any  advancement  since  she 
came  under  the  yoke  of  the  Anglo-Saxon.  On  the 
contrary  she  has  never  ceased  to  go  backward  from 
that  fatal  period  even  to  the  present  day. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  England 
has  during  that  same  period  generally  enjoyed  great 
prosperity.  But  we  shall  now  see  that  this  prosperity 
has  been  gained  by  the  robbery  and  spoHation  of  the 
weaker  nations  of  the  earth.  We  shall  observe  too 
that  England's  prosperity  is  not  a  genuine  healthy 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  85 

prosperity;  because  the  masses  of  her  population  are 
trodden  down  in  poverty  and  degradation  in  order 
that  a  few  of  the  privileged  class  may  live  in  luxury 
and  ease. 

There  has  never  yet  existed  on  this  earth  a  nation 
that  has  been  such  a  notorious  spoiler  as  England. 
Everybody  knows  how  shamefully  she  despoiled 
Ireland,  not  once  but  a  dozen  times;  and  now  after 
she  has  taken  everything  that  Ireland  possessed,  she 
has  the  effrontery  to  pose  before  the  nations  of  the 
world  as  the  generous  conqueror;  and  she  offers  to 
sell  back  to  the  Irish  at  a  twenty  years'  purchase  the 
very  land  that  she  robbed  from  their  forefathers. 
He  is  certainly  a  magnanimous  thief  who  first  de- 
spoils his  victim  and  then  offers  to  sell  back  to  him 
the  very  property  of  which  he  has  robbed  him. 

Just  as  England  robbed  Ireland  she  despoiled 
Scotland  and  Wales  Ukewise.  Like  that  httle  animal 
called  the  weasel  she,  as  it  were,  sucked  the  very  life- 
blood  from  their  veins  and  waxed  fat  on  the  very 
marrow  of  their  bones.  What  wonder  if  Ireland, 
Scotland,  and  Wales  would  be  poor,  wretched,  and 
emaciated;  while  John  Bull  is  growing  more  corpulent 
every  day! 

But  the  British  Isles  were  not  a  sufficiently  wide 
field  for  the  depredations  of  the  Anglo-Saxon.  History 
tells  us  how  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  at  a 
time  when  England  and  Spain  were  at  peace,  the 
EngHsh  freebooter.  Sir  Francis  Drake,  enriched  his 
native  land  by  plundering  the  Spanish  galleons  re- 
turning from  the  West  Indies  laden  with  gold  and 


86  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

silver.  We  can  form  some  idea  of  the  extent  of  his 
depredations  from  the  fact  that  in  a  single  Spanish 
ship  which  he  captured  he  seized  an  enormous  treasure 
amounting  to  $800,000.  Yet,  though  his  conduct  was 
nothing  more  or  less  than  piracy  pure  and  simple,  on 
his  return  to  England,  Queen  Elizabeth  visited  him 
on  board  his  ship  and  bestowed  on  him  the  order  of 
knighthood  for  his  distinguished  services. 

But  the  treasures  which  thus  far  flowed  into  the 
coffers  of  England  were  nothing  in  comparison  with 
what  she  was  now  to  gain  from  the  spoUation  of 
India.  Before  the  discovery  of  America,  India  was 
looked  upon  as  the  richest  and  most  fertile  country 
in  the  world.  For  centuries  vague  traditions  of  its 
countless  treasures  hung  like  a  vista  over  Europe; 
and  the  fondest  dream  of  European  navigators  was 
to  discover  a  shorter  route  to  its  golden  shores.  In 
fact  it  was  whilst  seeking  for  the  East  Indies  that 
Columbus  by  mere  accident  discovered  America. 

Judge  then  what  must  have  been  the  spoils  which 
England  gained  from  the  conquest  of  India,  that 
land  so  noted  for  its  gold,  silver,  and  diamonds;  its 
costly  robes  of  silk,  grand  tapestries,  and  all  the 
splendor  of  Oriental  luxury.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
those  English  adventurers  who  went  out  thither  poor 
and  needy  returned  in  a  few  years  to  dazzle  their 
countrymen  by  their  enormous  wealth,  so  that  they 
received  the  title  of  Nabobs,  an  appellation  formerly 
applied  to  only  the  viceroys  of  India.  The  great 
English  novelist,  Mr.  Thackeray,  has  an  excellent 
description  of  the  arrogance,  the  ostentation,  and  the 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  87 

vulgar  display  of  wealth  of  these  EngUsh  Nabobs  in 
his  famous  novel  called  "Vanity  Fair";  for  one  of 
its  leading  characters  is  a  young  man  called  Mr. 
Joseph  Sedley,  who  went  out  as  a  clerk  of  the  East 
India  Company,  accumulated  an  immense  fortune, 
and  then  came  back  to  England  to  spend  his  wealth 
in  riotousness  and  debauchery.     But  as  the   great 
Latin  Poet,  Virgil,  said:  ''Ex uno disce omnes.''   From 
the  conduct  of  one  you  may  judge  them  all;  for  as  Mr. 
Sedley  acted  so  did  Lord  Clive,  Warren  Hastings,  and 
all  the  other  Enghsh  harpies  despoil  the  natives  on 
all  sides.     Even  up  to  the  present  day  England  main- 
tains in  India  a  standing  army  of  300,000  men  besides 
T 45 ,000  pohce.     This  vast  garrison  has  only  one  ob- 
ject in  view,  to  rob  the  poor  defenceless  natives  in 
order  to  enrich  themselves  and  fill  the  English  ex- 
chequer.    As  a   result   England   derives   every   year 
from    the    internal    revenue    of    her    Indian    empire 
$450,000,000,   and   her  receipts  for   commerce   wath 
India  amount  to  $6oo,ooo,oor.     What  wonder  that 
England  has  become  enormously  wealthy  from  the 
spoliation  of  India! 

But  alas!  for  India  herself.  She  may  well  curse 
the  day  that  the  EngUsh  first  set  foot  upon  her  shores. 
Before  the  arrival  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  India  was  blest 
with  prosperity  and  plenty;  because  it  is  a  country 
which  is  naturally  most  fertile  and  productive.  Like 
the  United  States  of  America,  it  enjoys  every  variety 
of  vegetation  and  cHmate,  for  it  extends  from  the 
tropic  shores  of  Bengal  to  the  frigid  regions  of  Mt. 
Everest,  \vith  its  peaks  of  perpetual  snow.     Hence 


88  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

in  all  the  Kterature  that  has  come  down  to  us  up  to 
the  eighteenth  century,  whether  from  the  early  Greek 
historians,  or  from  the  French,  who  conti'oUed  India 
before  ever  the  EngUsh  set  foot  upon  the  soil,  or  from 
the  native  Indian  writers  themselves,  there  is  not  even 
so  much  as  a  hint  of  any  famine  ever  having  visited 
that  fertile  country.  Yet  since  the  English  became 
masters  of  the  land  it  has  been  devastated  by  six 
terrible  visitations  of  famine  during  which  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  people  suffered  the  awful  death  of 
starvation  in  a  country  naturally  flowing  with  milk 
and  honey.  We  all  remember  how  even  in  our  own 
day,  only  a  few  years  ago,  whilst  the  English  were 
shooting  down  the  Boers,  a  brave  people  fighting  for 
their  rights,  that  same  terrible  scourge  of  famine  again 
fell  upon  India  and  swept  away  tens  of  thousands  of 
its  population. 

English  apologists  make  the  excuse  that  these 
famines  are  due  to  the  failure  of  the  rice  crops  for  lack 
of  rain.  But  why  did  not  the  rice  crop  fail  before 
the  arrival  of  the  English?  Moreover,  why  should 
the  natives  of  India  confine  their  industry  mainly  to 
the  cultivation  of  a  little  rice  sufficient  to  keep  body 
and  soul  together,  when  their  lands  are  capable  of 
producing  all  kinds  of  crops  ?  Is  it  not  because  they 
know  it  would  be  useless  any  longer  to  exert  themselves 
to  raise  fine  crops,  when  all  the  fruits  of  their  labor 
will  go  only  to  enrich  their  English  oppressors  ?  Have 
we  not  here  an  exact  counterpart  of  the  famine  in 
Ireland  owing  to  the  failure  of  the  potato  crop?  In 
both  cases  the  real  cause  of  the  famine  is  not  the 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  89 

failure  of  the  crops,  but  a  cause  whose  roots  go  much 
further  back  than  that,  viz.  English  tyranny. 

As  England  has  despoiled  and  impoverished  India, 
so  has  she  done  to  every  country  throughout  the  world 
wherever  she  could  get  a  foothold,  whether  in  Canada, 
Austraha,  or  South  Africa.  It  is  the  same  story  of 
tyranny  and  oppression  everywhere.  Canada  was 
discovered,  explored,  and  settled  by  France,  yet  like 
a  genuine  robber,  England  is  to-day  reaping  the 
harvest  planted  by  the  French.  Australia  was  dis- 
covered by  the  Spaniards  and  Dutch;  but  to-day  they 
have  not  a  single  foot  of  territory  in  the  whole  con- 
tinent. England  has  grabbed  it  all.  If  England 
had  no  other  foreign  possessions  but  Australia,  that 
alone  should  be  sufficient  to  make  her  a  rich  and 
prosperous  country.  Just  think  of  it — Australia  pours 
every  year  into  the  lap  of  England  the  vast  output 
of  $28,000,000  in  gold;  the  revenue  from  commerce 
amounts  to  $500,000,000  more;  and  the  province  of 
Victoria  alone  has  already  yielded  over  $1,000,000,000 
from  her  gold  mines. 

Why  then  should  we  marvel  that  England  is  a  more 
prosperous  country  than  Ireland?  Has  not  England 
the  spoils  of  the  whole  world  to  enrich  her?  She 
may  boast  that  on  her  dominions  the  sun  never  sets, 
which  means  nothing  else  than  that  the  sun  never 
sets  on  hei  robbery  and  spoHation;  though  we 
should  expect  that  the  sun  and  moon  would  hide 
their  face  in  shame  at  the  sight  of  her  unblushing 
depredations. 

Still  England  is  not  yet  satisfied.     She  has  taken 


90  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

the  lion  as  the  symbol  of  her  nation;  but  the  king  of 
beasts  is  far  too  noble  an  aninial  to  be  the  emblem  of 
England;  for  it  is  possible  to  satisfy  the  appetite  of 
the  Hon  and  when  his  hunger  is  satiated  he  is  a  per- 
fectly harmless  animal.  The  Enghsh  should  rather 
have  taken  as  their  national  emblem  the  man-eating 
Bengal  tiger,  for  he  is  never  satisfied,  because  even 
when  satisfied  fully  with  food,  he  is  still  blood-thirsty 
for  slaughter  for  the  mere  fiendish  delight  of  it.  So 
England,  though  she  has  already  more  than  the  Uon's 
share  of  the  world,  still  craves  for  more. 

It  is  not  at  all  necessary  to  scan  the  pages  of  history 
in  order  to  prove  this.  Diu-ing  the  last  few  years  we 
have  had  sufficient  evidence  of  that  under  our  owti 
eyes.  Wherever  gold  or  silver,  or  diamonds  have 
been  discovered — no  matter  in  what  country — England 
has  always  under  some  pretext  or  another  stepped  in 
and  said:  "This  land  belongs  to  me."  Just  as 
soon  as  gold  was  discovered  in  Alaska,  England  im- 
mediately set  up  a  claim  to  the  gold-fields  of  KJondyke. 
But,  as  the  United  States  was  not  a  weak  nation  that 
she  could  bully,  she  consented  to  submit  the  question 
to  arbitration,  and  of  course  lost. 

Again,  we  remember  how  a  few  years  ago  when 
gold  was  discovered  at  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco, 
England  endeavored  to  get  possession  of  the  gold- 
fields  for  herself,  claiming  that  they  were  in  the  terri- 
tory of  British  Guiana,  though  it  was  as  pla\Yv  as  day 
that  they  belonged  to  Venezuela.  England  would 
hear  nothing  of  arbitration  then.  Oh!  no;  until  that 
grand    old    man    of    Democracv,  Grover   Cleveland, 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  91 

Stepped   in   and   quickly   brought   John   Bull   to   his 
senses;  as  we  have  seen  in  Chapter  VII. 

Oh!  for  an  hour  of  Grover  Cleveland  a  few  years 
afterwards,  when  England  was  bullying  the  two  Httle 
sister  repubhcs  of  South  Africa,  because  they  had  the 
misfortune  to  have  diamonds  discovered  within  their 
borders.  But  alas!  a  very  different  man  from  Cleve- 
land then  occupied  the  White  House  at  Washington. 
McKinley  was  a  very  kind-hearted  and  amiable  man, 
but  also  a  very  weak  character  who  was  very  easily 
influenced.  However,  as  he  now  bears  upon  his 
brow  the  halo  of  martyrdom,  it  would  be  unwise  to 
cast  any  reflections  upon  him.  Yet  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  he  was  to  a  great  extent  dominated  over 
by  the  late  Republican  leader,  ]Mark  Hanna.  But 
as  the  proverb  says:  ''Nihil  de  mortuis  nisi  bonum.'' 
However,  the  greatest  mistake  of  :McKinley's  life 
was  in  appointing  as  his  Secretary  of  State  a  man  who 
had  just  been  the  American  ambassador  to  England 
and  who  had  become  so  imbued  with  English  ideas 
that  he  was  in  reaHty  no  longer  an  American  at  heart. 
It  is  said  that  our  American  ambassadors  to  the  Court 
of  St.  James  become  so  dazzled  with  English  hi^^h 
society  that  only  a  very  strong  character  can  resist  its- 
influence.  Most  of  them  become  completely  dis- 
Americanized;  but  John  Hay  became  the  worst  Anglo- 
maniac  of  them  all.  There  is  little  doubt  that  it 
was  under  the  influence  of  this  man  that  President 
McKinley,  though  a  descendant  of  Irish  parents,  dis- 
played such  deplorable  pro-English  s^-mpathies  during 
his    administration.     In    fact    he    made    the    United 


92  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

States  the  regular  cat's-paw  of  England.  Many 
Americans  believe  to  this  day  that  McKinley's  whole 
foreign  policy  was  directed  from  London  by  that 
astute  English  pohtician,  Joseph  Chamberlain.  They 
are  firmly  convinced  that  it  was  Chamberlain  that 
embroiled  the  United  States  in  war  with  Spain  over 
Cuba  and  directed  her  to  seize  upon  the  Philippine 
Islands,  so  that  she  might  serve  England  as  a  counter- 
poise in  the  East  against  Russia.  Thus  the  United 
States  is  indebted  to  John  Hay  and  Joseph  Chamber- 
lain for  the  vexatious  problem  of  the  PhiHppines 
which  is  puzzling  her  statesmen  even  to  the  present 
day,  and  seems  likely  to  cause  them  much  more  trouble 
in  future.  Chamberlain  himself  seemed  to  acknowl- 
edge this  in  a  speech  to  his  constituents  in  England, 
when  he  declared  that:  ''Though  there  was  no  al- 
liance between  England  and  the  United  States,  there 
was  an  understanding  that  was  better  than  any 
treaty."  No  doubt  it  was  by  virtue  of  that  ''under- 
standing" that  during  McKinley's  administration, 
for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  United  States, 
two  Irish  patriots  just  released  from  an  EngHsh  prison, 
were  denied  admission  into  this  country,  on  the  ground 
that  they  were  convicts;  yet  their  only  crime  was  in 
defending  their  Country's  rights;  and  the  great  Amer- 
ican republic  had  always  made  it  her  proud  boast 
that  she  had  ever  extended  a  welcome  hand  to  the 
oppressed  of  all  nations.  Indeed,  never  before  had 
the  United  States  repelled  from  her  shores  any  exile 
whose  only  offence  was  a  poHtical  crime  in  behalf 
of    freedom  committed    in    the  Old  World.     What 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  93 

wonder  that  one  of  these  deported  patriots  exclaimed: 
**Has  the  United  States  then  humiliated  herself  to  be 
once  more  a  mere  colony  of  England?  The  only 
thing  now  needed  to  complete  her  degradation  is  to 
hoist  the  Union  Jack  at  Washington  above  the  Stars 
and  Stripes." 

But  the  most  shameful  and  disgraceful  proceeding 
of  all  on  the  part  of  McKinley  and  Hay  was  to  allow 
England  to  strangle  to  death  the  two  heroic  little  re- 
publics of  South  Africa  without  a  word  of  protest. 
Nay,  more,  they  actually  permitted  England  to  estab- 
lish a  camp  near  New  Orleans  for  the  purchase  of 
American  mules,  to  ride  down  the  poor  Boer  farmers; 
and  it  is  the  opinion  of  Colonel  Blake,  that  brave 
American,  who  fought  side  by  side  with  the  Boers,  as 
the  leader  of  the  Irish  Brigade,  and  afterwards  wrote 
the  history  of  the  war,  that  but  for  the  assistance  which 
England  thus  derived  from  the  United  States  she 
would  have  been  ignominiously  defeated.  Well 
therefore  may  the  United  States  blush  through  shame 
for  her  share  in  this  nefarious  deed;  for  have  we  not 
in  the  destruction  of  the  two  South  African  RepubHcs 
an  exact  counterpart  of  the  biblical  narrative  con- 
cerning the  robbery  and  murder  of  Naboth  by  Achab 
and  Jezabel,  in  order  to  get  possession  of  his  vine- 
yard? But  just  as  the  anger  of  God  afterwards  fell 
upon  the  guilty  pair  and  they  paid  the  penalty  with 
their  life,  so  doubtless  God's  wrath  will  also  be  finally 
kindled  against  guilty  England  for  all  her  robberies 
and  all  the  blood  she  has  shed.  As  our  gifted  Irish- 
American  poet,  James  Jeffrey  Roche,  has  well  said: 


94  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Her  robes  are  of  purple  and  scarlet, 
And  the  kings  have  bent  their  knees 

To  the  gemmed  and  jeweled  harlot 
Who  sitteth  on  many  seas. 

They  have  drunk  the  abominations, 

Of  her  golden  cup  of  shame; 
She  has  drugged  and  debauched  the  nations 

With  the  mystery  of  her  name. 

Her  merchants  have  gathered  riches 

By  the  power  of  her  wantoness, 
And  her  usurers  are  as  leeches 

On  the  world's  supreme  distress. 

She  has  scoured  the  seas  as  a  spoiler. 

Her  mart  is  a  robber's  den, 
With  the  wasted  toil  of  the  toiler, 

And  the  mortgaged  souls  of  men. 

Her  crimson  flag  is  flying 

Where  the  East  and  West  are  one; 

Her  drums  while  the  day  is  dying 
Salute  the  rising  sun. 

She  has  scourged  the  weak  and  the  lowly 

And  the  just  with  an  iron  rod ; 
She  is  drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  holy — 

She  shall  drink  of  the  wrath  of  God. 

If  a  private  individual  behaved  as  England  has  been 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  95 

acting  for  centuries,  he  would  be  instantly  cast  into 
prison.  Indeed  many  a  man  is  now  in  prison  for 
life  for  doing  only  on  a  small  scale  what  England  has 
been  perpetrating  for  fifteen  hundred  years. 

A  few  wxeks  ago  the  police  of  London  captured 
a  woman  who  was  called  the  "Queen  of  Burglars." 
Her  arrest  caused  a  great  sensation  in  England,  be- 
cause until  then  she  had  been  considered  a  lady  of 
exemplary  character.  She  moved  in  the  highest 
society  and  was  widely  noted  for  her  charitable  and 
philanthropic  deeds.  She  had  a  splendid  villa  in  the 
suburbs  of  London,  most  gorgeously  furnished,  and 
she  drove  through  the  streets  of  the  capital  in  a  stately 
carriage,  drawn  by  a  span  of  horses,  driven  by  a 
footman  in  stylish  livery.  She  dressed  Hke  a  queen 
and  had  servants  galore.  Yet,  who  would  believe 
it? — all  that  luxury  and  grandeur  she  acquired  by 
burglarizing  her  neighbors'  houses  at  the  dead  of 
night,  and  so  skilfully  did  she  cover  up  her  tracks  that 
for  a  long  time  not  a  breath  of  suspicion  fell  upon  her. 
Even  the  Scotland  Yard  detectives,  supposed  to  be  the 
cleverest  in  the  world,  failed  to  entrap  her. 

There  we  have  an  exact  counterpart  of  England, 
that  has  so  long  passed  before  the  other  nations  of  the 
world  as  an  exemplary  power,  which  has  become 
prosperous  through  the  industry  and  enterprise  of 
her  citizens;  when  in  reality  nearly  all  her  wealth  has 
been  accumulated  from  the  robbery  and  spoliation 
of  the  weaker  nations  of  the  earth.  Hence  the  poet 
has  well  said  that 

"Her  mart  is  a  robber's  den"; 


96  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

for,  though  there  are  thousands  of  honest  English- 
men who  would  rather  cut  off  their  right  hand  than 
steal,  what  is  the  property  of  the  great  English  lords 
but  the  spoil  of  the  world  ? 

Yet,  in  spite  of  all  her  plundering  and  spoliation  for 
centuries,  England  is  not  blest  with  a  genuine  healthy- 
prosperity.  We  cannot  call  that  country  truly  prosper- 
ous where  the  great  mass  of  the  people  are  ground 
down  in  poverty  and  wretchedness  in  order  to  keep  a 
few  privileged  individuals  rolling  in  wealth  and  lolling 
in  idleness.  But  that  is  exactly  the  kind  of  prosperity 
which  England  enjoys.  It  is  true,  a  few  of  her  princes, 
lords,  earls,  and  dukes  possess  sumptuous  mansions, 
immense  demesnes,  and  a  great  retinue  of  servants; 
but,  as  we  have  seen,  all  this  splendor  has  been  derived 
from  the  plunder  of  the  world. 

However,  as  the  proverb  says:  "What's  got  badly, 
goes  badly."  Many  of  these  nobles?  instead  of  spend- 
ing their  wealth  for  the  elevation  of  their  fellow-men, 
the  encouragement  of  commerce,  and  the  promotion 
of  industry,  rather  squander  it  in  gambhng  at  the 
Derby  or  Ascot  races  or  in  the  notorious  gambling 
resort  of  Monte  Carlo.  In  fact  many  of  them  have 
thus  squandered  away  a  princely  estate,  and  then,  in 
order  to  repair  their  wasted  fortunes  sent  orders  to 
rack-rent  still  more  their  poor  unfortunate  tenants 
in  England  or  Ireland.  Other  spendthrift  nobles  are 
obHged  to  mortgage  their  ancestral  estates  to  the  last 
penny  and  then  strive  to  redeem  their  patrimony  by 
coming  out  to  the  United  States  to  seek  in  marriage 
the  hand  of  a  rich  American  heiress  who  is  so  foolish 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  97 

as  to  purchase  an  empty  title  with  her  father's  im- 
mense wealth.  Thus  these  proud  English  lords  have 
become  the  laughing-stock  of  the  Western  Continent, 
and  you  can  scarcely  take  up  a  comic  journal  without 
noticing  the  most  ludicrous  caricatures  of  them. 

But  alas  for  the  common  people !  Who  can  describe 
the  misery  and  wretchedness  in  which  they  are 
steeped  ?  In  glaring  contrast  to  the  gorgeous  splendor 
and  grandeur  of  the  English  nobiUty  is  the  abject 
and  forlorn  condition  of  the  common  people  of 
Britain.  Notwithstanding  her  boasted  prosperity, 
there  is  no  country  on  the  face  of  the  earth  where  so 
much  misery  and  wretchedness  exists  among  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  as  in  England.  To  be  convinced 
of  this  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  read  that  learned 
work  entitled:  "Protestant  and  Catholic  Countries 
Compared."  This  book  was  written  by  the  late 
great  missionary,  Father  Young,  a  Paulist  priest,  who 
had  travelled  extensively  in  England  and  made  a 
critical  study  of  her  social  system,  so  that  he  certainly 
knew  whereof  he  spoke.  Moreover,  as  he  was  a 
convert  to  Catholicity,  and  likewise  of  EngUsh  descent, 
it  cannot  very  logically  be  asserted  that  he  was 
prejudiced  against  England. 

But  he  is  not  by  any  means  the  only  author  who  has 
left  us  a  most  vivid  description  of  the  degraded  state 
of  the  English  masses.  There  is  another  book  equally 
learned  on  the  subject  written  by  an  American  Prot- 
estant gentleman,  who  relates  to  us  what  he  witnessed 
with  his  own  eyes  less  than  thirty  years  ago.  We 
refer  to  the  famous  work  of  Charles  Lester  entitled: 


98  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

*'The  Glory  and  Shame  of  England."  The  effect  of 
perusing  such  a  book  is  simply  appalling.  There  is 
no  better  proof  of  the  old  adage:  ''Truth  is  stranger 
than  fiction";  for  not  even  the  wildest  flight  of  the 
imagination  would  have  led  us  to  suspect  that  there 
existed  so  much  poverty  and  wretchedness  in  England 
did  we  not  find  it  narrated  by  such  unquestionable 
authority.  EngUsh  travellers  may  marvel  at  the 
wretchedness  and  poverty  in  the  desolate  regions  of 
Connemara,  in  the  west  of  Ireland,  but  even  there 
after  all  the  desolation  wrought  by  the  tyranny  of 
England  and  the  extortion  of  EngUsh  landlords, 
there  is  nothing  in  all  Ireland  that  can  com- 
pare with  the  poverty  and  wTetchedness  in  a  great 
EngHsh  city  like  London  or  Liverpool.  Mr.  Lester 
assures  us  that  the  social  condition  of  twenty  per  cent. 
of  the  population  of  these  two  cities  is  far  more  de- 
graded than  that  of  the  Helots  of  ancient  Greece  or 
the  West  Indian  slaves  before  their  emancipation. 
Their  dwellings  are  only  wTetched  cellars  ten  or  twelve 
feet  square  and  six  feet  high,  where  father,  mother,  and 
children  of  all  ages  and  sexes  are  huddled  together 
like  cattle,  with  a  total  disregard  of  all  the  decencies 
of  life.  Certainly  no  Esquimaux  or  African  savage 
would  or  could  live  in  such  awful  dens. 

But  we  are  not  required  to  accept  this  startling 
narration  on  the  word  of  a  foreigner,  however  un- 
prejudiced, for  the  English  themselves  admit  it  with 
shame.  A  committee  appointed  by  the  Cambridge 
University,  in  1850,  to  investigate  the  social  condition 
of  the  poor  reported  that  "they  were  in  a  more  de- 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  99 

•graded  condition  than  even  the  beasts  in  the  field  and 
that  their  wretchedness,  filth,  and  degradation  were 
a  disgrace  to  any  civilized  country." 

We  may  therefore  readily  beheve  Mr.  Lester  when 
he  assures  us  that:  "There  is  more  misery,  more 
acute  suffering  among  the  mass  of  the  people  of  Eng- 
land than  there  is  in  any  other  kingdom  of  the  world. 
There  are  thousands  homeless,  breadless,  friendless, 
without  shelter,  raiment  or  hope  in  the  world;  millions 
uneducated,  only  half -fed,  driven  to  crime  and  every 
species  of  vice  which  ignorance  and  destitution  bring 
in  their  train,  to  an  extent  utterly  unknown  to  the  less 
enlightened,  the  less  free,  the  less  favored,  and  the 
less  powerful  kingdoms  of  Europe." 

But  still  more  dreadful  is  the  account  taken  by  Mr. 
Lester  from  an  English  journal  of  the  horrible  degrada- 
tion existing  among  the  operators  in  the  local  mines  of 
England : 

"The  infernal  cruelties  practiced  upon  boys  and 
girls  in  the  coal  mines,  those  graves  of  comfort  and 
virtue,  have  never  in  any  age  been  outdone.  We 
have  sometimes  read  with  shuddering  disgust  of  the 
outrages  committed  upon  helpless  children  by  men 
in  naked  savageness.  We  aver  our  belief  that  in  cold- 
blooded atrocity  they  do  not  equal  what  is  going  on 
from  day  to  day  in  some  of  our  coal  mines.  Young 
creatures,  both  male  and  female,  six,  seven,  eight, 
nine  years  old,  stark  naked  in  some  cases,  chained 
like  brutes  to  coal  carriages,  and  dragging  them  on 
all  fours  through  sludge  six  and  seven  inches  deep, 
in  total  darkness  for  ten,  twenty,  and  in  special  in- 


loo  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Stances  thirty  hours  successively,  without  any  other 
cessation  even  to  get  meals  than  is  usually  afforded 
by  the  unreadiness  of  the  miners.  Here  is  a  pretty 
picture  of  British  civiHzation ! "  What  wonder  that 
John  Ruskin  called  the  English  coal  mines  "Hell- 
pits''! 

Perhaps  our  readers  will  imagine  that  a  great  im- 
provement has  taken  place  among  the  EngUsh  masses 
during  the  last  thirty  years,  since  Mr.  Lester  wrote 
his  famous  book,  and  that  all  the  old  social  evils  have 
been  aboHshed.  But  that  is  a  great  mistake.  They 
still  exist  as  flagrantly  as  ever.  Even  so  strenuous 
an  imperiahst  as  Joseph  Chamberlain  in  an  article 
in  the  London  Fortnightly  Review  as  recently  as 
December,  1883,  thus  wrote: 

"Never  before  in  our  history  were  wealth  and  the 
evidences  of  wealth  more  abundant;  and  never  be- 
fore was  the  misery  of  the  poor  more  intense,  or  the 
condition  of  their  daily  Hfe  more  hopeless  or  more 
degraded.  England  has  a  miUion  of  paupers  and  a 
million  more  are  on  the  verge  of  it." 

But,  lest  our  critics  may  allege  that  our  data  is  be- 
hind the  times  and  that  our  statistics  are  not  up-to- 
date,  we  now  introduce  as  it  were  a  flash-light  picture 
of  English  social  life  far  more  recent  than  anything 
we  have  so  far  presented.  It  is  a  very  able  article 
by  Judson  Grenell  in  the  Boston  Sunday  Herald^ 
dated  June  26,  1904.  Surely  we  want  nothing  more 
recent  than  that. 

The  author  relates  how,  in  his  travels  through  Eng- 
land, he  came  to  the  town  of  Cradley  Heath,  one  of  the 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  loi 

suburbs  of  Birmingham,  the  home  of  the  irrepressible 
Joseph  Chamberlain,  and  there  what  a  dreadful  sight 
met  his  gazel  Women  whom  he  styles:  "Female 
Vulcans"  were  actually  working  at  the  forge  like 
men,  with  one  hand  operating  the  bellows  and  the 
other  wielding  the  hammer  at  the  laborious  task  of 
making  chains.  Yet  for  this  arduous  labor  all  that 
they  received  for  wages  was  thirty-six  cents  a  day. 
Can  we  imagine  anything  more  humiliating  or  more 
degrading  to  womanhood  than  this?  Search  all  the 
books  of  ancient  and  modern  times  and  you  will  find 
nothing  so  revolting  even  among  the  Pagans  of  old. 
What  wonder  that  the  author  declares  that  "Many 
of  these  poor  women  appeared  hard-visaged  and  others 
sought  for  consolation  in  the  beer  glass";  for  is  not 
such  unnatural  toil  sufficient  to  demoralize  any 
woman?  Where  but  in  England  can  such  a  horrible 
state  of  affairs  be  found?  Ireland  with  all  her 
poverty  and  misery  would  never  allow  her  women  to 
degrade  themselves  to  such  a  level. 

What  is  the  cause  of  such  a  dreadful  condition  of 
things  as  exists  in  England  even  at  this  period  of  en- 
lightenment, the  opening  of  the  twentieth  century? 
It  is  all  due  to  the  English  Government  and  its  iniqui- 
tous system,  which  exploits  the  great  mass  of  the  popu- 
lation and  reduces  them  to  misery  and  degradation 
in  order  that  the  lords  and  gentry  may  live  in  idleness 
and  luxury.  As  Mr.  Lester  says:  "The  Govern- 
ment of  England  is  a  government  of  privileges  and 
monopoHes:  the  few  are  born  booted  and  spurred  to 
ride  over  the  many.     The  working  classes  are  de- 


102  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

graded  and  oppressed.  All  but  the  privileged  classes 
are  taxed  from  their  birth  to  their  death.  All  are 
taxed  to  pamper  a  haughty  aristocracy  and  the 
privileged  orders." 

"The  great  crime  of  England  lies  in  sustaining  a 
system  which  oppresses,  starves,  and  brutalizes  the 
masses  of  her  subjects.  The  Government  of  England 
makes  poor  men  poorer  and  the  rich  men  richer.  I 
therefore  say  that  no  population  can  be  found  on  the 
earth  that  see  so  much  luxury  and  have  so  few  of  the 
necessaries  of  Kfe,  that  dwell  in  such  filthy  hovels  and 
dens,  that  bask  so  httle  in  the  sunshine  of  heaven." 

What  is  really  needed  is  some  industrial  shock  to 
the  whole  British  nation  which  will  direct  the  gaze 
of  the  people  to  the  real  cause  of  their  poverty  and 
social  degradation.  There  is  only  one  remedy — to 
abolish  the  House  of  Lords  entirely,  do  away  with  all 
the  privileged  classes,  and  make  all  men  equal  before 
the  law,  as  in  the  United  States.  Then  all  the  natural 
resources  of  the  country  will  no  longer  be  monopo- 
lized by  a  few  privileged  lords  and  gentry  who  reap 
where  they  have  not  so\vn  and  who  compel  milHons 
of  people  to  crowd  into  foul  slums  in  order  that  they 
and  their  children  may  sit  in  the  lap  of  luxury  and  be 
denied  nothing.  When  will  the  English  people  learn 
the  lesson? 


CHAPTER  III. 

Celtic  and  Saxon  Architecture  and  Art. 

BESIDES  victory  in  war  and  prosperity  in  peace, 
there  are  several  other  marks  which  indicate 
the  superiority  of  one  nation  over  another. 
Prominent  among  these  are  skill  in  the  fine  arts,  such 
as  architecture,  sculpture,  and  painting;  proficiency 
in  science,  such  as  astronomy  and  philosophy;  and 
preeminence  in  hterature,  music  and  poetry. 

Who  that  has  ever  gazed  on  the  ruins  of  ancient 
Eg)rpt,  its  famous  pyramids  and  its  renowned  sphinx 
has  failed  to  be  con\inced  of  its  great  superiority  in 
civilization  over  other  nations  of  the  same  period? 
Where  is  the  traveller  who  has  ever  set  eyes  on  the 
ruins  of  ancient  Greece,  its  Acropolis,  its  Parthenon, 
its  Atheanaeum  and  its  Areopagus,  and  can  doubt  that 
thousands  of  years  ago  it  far  excelled  in  civilization 
all  the  other  nations  of  antiquity  by  which  it  was 
then  surrounded? 

So,  too,  the  ruins  of  the  old  Roman  Colisseum  and 
the  Arch  of  Titus  are  sufficient  to  convince  us  that  the 
old  Romans  had  arrived  at  a  very  high  degree  of 
civilization  before  the  downfall  of  their  empire. 

When  we  come  to  draw  a  comparison  between  Irish 
and  English  art,  certainly  we  have  no  reason  to  be 
ashamed  of  our  ancestors.  It  is  true,  English  writers 
sometimes  reproach  us  because  our  forefathers  once 
lived   in   houses   of  wicker-work   covered   over  with 


104  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

reeds;  but  they  should  remember  that  this  was  before 
the  introduction  of  Christianity;  and  this  was  the 
very  same  style  of  house  which  existed  in  France 
and  Germany  at  that  period.  In  fact  even  up  to  the 
last  century  many  of  the  Highlanders  of  Scotland  built 
their  dwellings  after  the  very  same  fashion. 

But  in  the  course  of  time  the  artistic  skill  of  our 
ancestors  developed  and  in  the  middle  ages  all  classes 
dwelt  in  comfortable  houses  of  wood — far  better 
houses  than  the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  possess 
now  after  the  inestimable  blessing  of  seven  cen- 
turies of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization.  It  was  during 
the  middle  ages  also  that  the  Irish  constructed 
against  the  incursions  of  the  Danes  those  famous 
Round  Towers,  which  are  the  wonder  of  tourists 
even  to  this  day  and  are  the  nearest  approach  to 
the  pyramids  of  ancient  Egypt.  So  substantially 
were  they  constructed  that  after  centuries  many  of 
them  have  defied  the  gnawing  tooth  of  time  even  to 
the  present  hour. 

However,  it  was  in  the  construction  of  their  churches 
and  monasteries  that  the  Irish  exhibited  their  greatest 
architectural  skill  and  proved  themselves  a  most 
distinctly  rehgious  people.  Nothing  is  more  interest- 
ing whilst  travelling  through  Ireland  now  than  to  study 
the  ruins  of  the  magnificent  Irish  churches  and  abbeys 
erected  over  a  thousand  years  ago,  for  they  are  beauti- 
ful even  in  their  desolation  and  loudly  attest  the 
architectural  skill  of  our  ancestors.  All  these  great 
rehgious  edifices  were  constructed  of  stone  in  the 
Romanesque  style,  with  the  circular  arch.     The  walls 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  105 

were  tastefully  adorned  and  the  capitols  gracefully 
ornamented  with  figures  totally  unhke  anything  in 
England  or  the  continent;  which  shows  clearly  that 
the  work  was  executed  by  native  artists  and  that  the 
Irish  at  that  time  were  skilful  not  only  at  architecture 
but  likewise  at  sculpture  and  painting.  The  gigantic 
crosses  and  crucifixes  of  the  Saviour  erected  also  at 
this  period  are  splendid  testimonials  of  Irish  art;  and 
the  Celtic  cross  has  since  then  become  famous  all 
over  the  world. 

But  the  golden  age  of  Irish  art  was  just  before  the 
EngHsh  invasion,  in  the  twelfth  century  under  the 
great  Irish  King,  Turlough  O 'Conor,  who  may  justly 
be  called  the  Augustus  of  Western  Ireland,  if  not  of 
Western  Europe.  During  his  long  reign  of  fifty  years 
he  built  the  splendid  Cathedral  of  Tuam  and  several 
other  beautiful  churches  and  monasteries,  through  the 
instrumentaHty  of  that  great  Irish  family  of  architects 
called  the  O'Duffys,  who  were  to  Ireland  what 
Macenas  was  to  Rome  or  Phidias  to  Athens. 

In  strange  contrast  to  this  architectural  skill  of  our 
forefathers  was  the  obtuseness  of  the  early  Anglo- 
Saxons  who  landed  in  Britain;  for  they  gave  no 
evidence  of  any  artistic  skill  at  all,  unless  indeed  we 
call  plundering  an  art;  and  at  that  they  were  adepts. 
They  did  not  even  construct  their  own  dwellings  but 
simply  took  possession  of  the  houses  which  they 
robbed  from  their  lawful  owners,  the  Britons.  When 
these  abodes  fell  into  decay  they  would  not  so  much 
as  take  the  pains  to  repair  them.  What  wonder  that 
the  historian,  Guest,  though  himself  an  Englishman, 


io6  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

is  obliged  to  confess  that  at  the  time  of  the  Norman 
conquest  of  England  in  the  eleventh  century  the  Eng- 
ghsh  dwelt  in  ''mean  and  despicable  houses."  In 
fact  to-day  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land  our  modern  EngHsh  people  cannot  point  out 
a  single  monument  or  edifice  that  would  testify  to  the 
artistic  skill  of  their  ancestors. 

But  from  the  time  of  the  Norman  conquest  a  new 
day  of  architectural  splendor  began  to  dawn  over 
England;  so  that  the  subjugation  of  Britain  by  William 
the  Conqueror  was  really  a  great  blessing  in  disguise. 
The  Normans,  having  learned  from  their  French 
neighbors  the  arts  and  sciences  which  had  been  taught 
them  by  their  Roman  masters,  were  skilful  architects 
and  built  many  beautiful  and  stately  churches  far 
superior  to  any  yet  seen  in  England.  Many  of  the 
most  famous  English  cathedrals  were  erected  at  this 
period.  It  is  true  the  celebrated  Westminster  Abbey 
was  erected  just  before  the  Norman  conquest;  but 
it  was  built  by  Edward  the  Confessor,  whose  mother 
was  French,  whilst  he  himself  was  educated  in  Nor- 
mandy and  was  far  more  French  than  Enghsh.  The 
original  structure  in  the  Romanesque  style,  with 
rounded  arches,  was  torn  down  later  by  King  Henry 
III.  and  a  nobler  edifice  in  the  Gothic  style,  with 
pointed  arches  was  erected  in  its  stead.  This  with 
a  few  modifications  is  the  modern  Westminster  Abbey, 
which  has  survived  to  the  present  day  and  which 
Englishmen  with  pardonable  pride  call:  "the  love- 
liest thing  in  Christendom." 

Another  religious  structure  of  which  the  English 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  107 

are  very  proud  is  the  Canterbury  Cathedral;  but  the 
church  which  is  the  idol  of  their  heart  is  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral  in  London.  Yet  an  American  priest  who 
has  travelled  all  over  Europe  has  assured  me  that  it 
is  only  a  poor  imitation  of  St.  Peter's  Cathedral  in 
Rome. 

We  fail  therefore  to  see  how  England  with  all  her 
resources  displays  any  superiority  in  art  over  Ireland. 
Who  could  blame  poor  Ireland  at  the  present  day  if 
she  did  not  possess  imposing  churches  and  gorgeous 
cathedrals  like  other  nations,  since  she  has  been  de- 
spoiled of  all  her  resources  by  England?  What  in- 
centive had  the  Irish  to  demonstrate  their  architec- 
tural skill,  when,  as  the  poet  says: 

''Chill  penury  repressed  their  noble  rage 
And  froze  the  genial  current  of  the  soul"! 

Yet,  in  spite  of  every  drawback,  Irish  art  even  at  the 
present  day  will  not  suffer  much  in  comparison  with 
the  Anglo-Saxon.  The  Irish  cities  of  Dublin  and 
Cork,  though  not  by  any  means  as  large  or  opulent  as 
London  or  Liverpool,  nevertheless  display  in  their 
public  buildings  a  skill  in  architecture  not  surpassed 
by  the  proudest  city  in  England.  But  where  is  the 
church  throughout  all  England  that  surpasses  the 
new  Cathedral  of  Queenstown,  which  eminent  judges 
declare  to  be  one  of  the  handsomest  churches  in  the 
world?  Yet  it  is  said  that  the  Cathedral  just  com- 
pleted at  Armagh  is  even  more  magnificent  than  that 
at  Queenstown. 


io8  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

It  is  true,  in  those  arts  which  are  more  ornamental 
than  useful,  such  as  fine  statues  and  paintings, 
Ireland  is  sadly  deficient.  She  cannot  exhibit  beauti- 
ful art  museums  such  as  the  LouvTe  in  Paris  or  the 
Vatican  in  Rome.  She  has  been  too  much  occupied 
for  centuries  defending  her  very  existence  from  the 
tyranny  of  England  to  turn  her  attention  to  aesthetics. 
But  even  England  with  all  the  riches  of  her  spoils  has 
not  very  much  to  boast  of  in  this  respect.  A  short 
time  ago  a  very  enterprising  firm,  Sehnar  Hess  &  Co., 
of  New  York,  pubHshed  a  sketch  of  over  two  hundred 
of  the  most  famous  men  and  women  of  histor)\  In 
this  learned  work  we  find  the  biography  of  all  the  great 
artists  of  the  world.  Greece  has  her  Phidias;  Italy 
her  Leonardo,  Bramante,  Raphael  and  Michael  Angelo ; 
France  her  Millet,  Meissonier  and  Gerome;  Holland 
her  Rembrandt  and  Germany  her  Albert  Durer.  All 
these  were  artists  of  world'-vv-ide  reputation  and  de- 
serve to  have  a  tablet  in  the  hall  of  fame.  It  is  of 
their  names  that  we  think  whenever  the  word  artist 
is  mentioned.  But  where  are  England's  artists  skilled 
in  statuary  and  painting?  The  only  EngHsh  artist 
w^ho  was  considered  at  all  worthy  to  have  his  name 
associated  with  these  immortals  was  William  Hogarth. 
I  feel  quite  certain  that  even  his  name  was  inserted 
by  mistake,  for  the  only  two  paintings  which  give  him 
any  claim  to  fame  have  the  subHme  title  of:  ''The 
Harlot's  Progress,"  and  "The  Rake's  Progress." 
Shades  of  Raphael  and  Michael  Angelo!  how  can 
you  endure  to  have  this  English  dross  classified  w^ith 
your  own  heavenly-inspired  productions? 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  109 

It  is  true,  nevertheless,  that  if  you  visit  the  British 
museum  you  mil  perceive  a  great  many  beautiful 
statues  and  paintings;  but  it  must  be  remembered 
that  these  are  not  the  original  productions  of  English 
artists.  On  the  contrary',  they  are  generally  only  a 
copy,  and  sometimes  a  very  imperfect  one,  of  some 
great  masterpiece  executed  by  a  French  or  Italian 
artist.     The  native  English  art  is  very  inferior  indeed. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Celt  and  the  Saxon  in  the  Realms  of 
Science. 

WHY  should  we  continue  our  comparisons  be- 
tween the  Celts  and  the  Saxons  when  the 
EngHsh  themselves  tacitly  acknowledge  that 
the  Irish  are  the  superior  race?  We  have  seen  how 
England  at  one  time  positively  forbade  any  commerce 
or  manufactures  on  the  part  of  Ireland.  What  is 
this  but  an  implicit  admission  that  the  Irish  were  the 
better  business  men,  to  be  dreaded  as  dangerous  com- 
petitors? Again  we  have  observed  how  in  the  penal 
days  the  English  ParHament  prohibited,  under  the 
severest  penalty,  any  Irishman  from  educating  his 
children  at  home  or  abroad.  What  is  this,  too,  but  an 
unwilling  acknowledgment  that  the  Irish  were  nat- 
urally the  more  intelligent  race  and  that  the  English 
could  compete  with  them  successfully  only  when  they 
were  reduced  to  a  state  of  ignorance? 

The  penal  laws  of  England  accomplished  their 
dastardly  work,  though  not  as  thoroughly  as  their 
authors  had  hoped.  Although  many  of  our  forefathers, 
despite  every  danger,  kept  the  lamp  of  learning  still 
burning  brightly  in  their  souls,  yet  the  fine  intellect 
of  many  others  was  obscured  by  lack  of  mental  train- 
ing on  account  of  England's  penal  laws,  because,  as 
the  poet  said: 

"Fair  knowledge  to  their  minds  her  ample  page 
Rich  with  the  spoils  of  time  did  ne'er  unroll." 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  iii 

It  is  quite  true  that  during  the  last  fifty  years  re- 
morse of  conscience  has  caused  John  Bull  to  make 
some  amends  for  his  past  misconduct  by  estabHshing 
the  national  schools  all  over  Ireland.  Since  then  it  is 
unquestionable  that  there  has  been  a  great  revival 
of  learning  among  the  Irish  people,  especially  of  the 
younger  generation.  Nevertheless,  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  there  still  exists  a  lamentable  want  of  culture 
among  the  children  of  Erin,  because  the  clouds  of 
ignorance  that  had  been  accumulating  for  centuries 
cannot  be  put  to  flight  in  an  hour. 

Hence  up  to  a  very  recent  date  it  was  quite  fashion- 
able for  English  writers  to  marvel  at  the  ignorance  of 
the  Irish  and  to  declare  that  their  illiteracy  was 
beyond  all  comprehension.  Some  bigots  have  even 
asserted  that  the  Irish  were  kept  in  ignorance  by 
the  CathoUc  Church  for  her  own  selfish  pur- 
pose. So  the  poor  Irishman  was  made  the  butt  of 
every  ancient  EngHsh  witticism,  if  indeed  the  English- 
man possesses  any  wat,  and  the  laughing-stock  of 
every  "smart"  English  comedian.  But  if  these 
EngHsh  were  not  the  most  consummate  hypocrites, 
they  would  frankly  acknowledge  that  if  the  Irish  are 
ignorant  their  lack  of  culture  is  the  work  of  their  own 
hands  and  those  of  their  fathers.  WTiat  a  spectacle 
for  angels  and  men,  to  prevent  a  noble  race  from  re- 
ceiving an  education  and  then  to  reproach  them  for 
their  ignorance! 

However,  it  was  not  always  thus.  More  than 
fifteen  centuries  ago,  when,  as  the  EngHsh  historian. 
Guest,  says:  {Giiesfs  English  History,  page  47)  ''The 


112  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

English  hardly  deserved  a  better  name  than  sea- 
wolves  and  pirates,"  Ireland  was  already  noted  for 
her  science  and  learning,  her  schools  and  her  scholars. 
To  be  convinced  of  this  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  read 
that  learned  book  of  the  great  Irish  Bishop,  Rt.  Rev. 
J.  Healy,  entitled:  "Ireland's  Ancient  Schools  and 
Scholars." 

Our  Irish  forefathers  were  highly  civilized  even  be- 
fore ever  St.  Patrick  brought  the  light  of  Christianity 
to  their  shores.  What  was  so  rare  at  that  time,  they 
knew  how  to  read  and  write,  though  we  cannot 
say  the  same  thing  now  after  seven  centuries  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  enHghtenment.  At  the  present  day  we  are 
accustomed  to  look  upon  Harvard,  Yale,  Oxford,  and 
Cambridge  Universities  as  very  venerable  because  they 
were  founded  a  few  centuries  ago;  but  it  is  a  historical 
fact  that  the  great  Irish  King,  Cormack,  estabUshed 
a  college  at  Tara,  nearly  seventeen  centuries  ago,  about 
two  hundred  years  before  ever  the  Anglo-Saxons  set 
foot  in  Britain.  The  course  of  study  in  that  college 
included  such  subjects  as  history,  poetry,  military 
tactics,  and  jurisprudence. 

However,  it  was  only  after  the  introduction  of 
Christianity  that  learning  and  science  bloomed  forth 
in  Ireland  like  a  beautiful  lily  in  all  its  grandeur,  and 
for  three  centuries  Ireland  became  known  all  over 
Europe  as  the  "Island  of  Saints  and  Scholars."  This 
was  no  empty,  high-sounding  name ;  for,  as  if  by  magic, 
a  score  of  celebrated  schools  or  colleges  sprung  up  all 
over  the  island.  To  narrate  the  merits  of  each  of 
these  great  institutions  of  learning  would  be  an  endless 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  113 

task.  In  order  not  to  weary  the  reader  with  details, 
we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  the  description  of  one 
of  the  most  famous.  As  Virgil  says:  ''Ex  uno  disce 
omnes."     From  a  single  one  we  may  judge  all. 

Perhaps  the  most  celebrated  of  all  the  great  Irish 
colleges  was  the  renowned  School  of  Armagh.  It  is 
supposed  to  have  been  founded  by  St.  Patrick  himself 
and  seems  to  have  been  primarily  a  theological  semi- 
nary. But  soon  it  branched  forth  and  developed  into 
one  of  the  most  celebrated  universities  in  Europe. 
One  of  its  first  presidents  was  St.  Gildas  surnamed 
the  Wise  on  account  of  his  great  learning  and  so 
famous  did  the  university  become  under  his  guidance 
that  crowds  of  students  flocked  over  from  England 
to  hear  him.  In  fact  so  numerous  did  they  become 
after  a  while  that  one  particular  part  of  the  city  had  to 
be  set  apart  for  their  accommodation,  after  the  manner 
of  the  Latin  Quarter  in  Paris  at  the  present  day.  We 
are  not  required  to  accept  this  on  the  authority  of  an 
Irish  historian,  for  we  have  it  on  the  testimony  of 
an  English  author,  the  Venerable  Bede  of  the  seventh 
century.  How  exceedingly  grateful  should  not  Eng- 
land be  to  Ireland  for  having  thus  instructed  her  youth 
at  the  great  fountains  of  learning  1  Yet  what  base 
ingratitude  she  displayed  afterwards  by  making  it  a 
penal  offence  for  an  Irishman  to  educate  his  children 
at  home  or  abroad! 

Not  only  was  Ireland  full  of  saints  and  scholars 
herself,  but  she  likewise  sent  forth  a  vast  number  of 
missionaries  and  eminent  scientists  to  bestow  upon 
other  less  favored  nations  of  Europe  the  blessings  of 


114  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXOX 

Christianity  and  the  light  of  ci\-iHzation.  At  the 
present  day  our  Scotch  Highlanders,  or  as  they  are 
sometimes  called,  the  Scotch-Irish  may  boast  as  they 
please,  but  they  must  admit  that  it  was  from  the  great 
Irish  missionan',  St.  Columba,  that  they  received  the 
Ught  of  the  gospel  and  the  first  rudiments  of  civiliza- 
tion. No  less  remarkable  was  another  great  Irish 
missionar}',  St.  Columbanus,  who  brought  the  glad 
tidings  of  the  true  faith  to  the  people  of  S\\'itzerland. 

But  probably  still  more  famous  was  the  celebrated 
Irish  missionar}^,  St.  VirgiUus,  who  preached  the 
gospel  in  Bavaria  and  afterwards  became  Archbishop 
of  Salzburg,  in  the  eighth  centur}'.  Though  a  great 
theologian  and  a  powerful  preacher,  he  was  still  more 
renowned  as  a  scientist.  When  we  speak  of  science 
as  it  existed  a  thousand  years  ago,  we  must  remember 
that  it  was  not  nearly  as  developed  then  as  at  the 
present  day.  The  age  of  modern  science  had  not 
yet  begun  to  dawn.  There  was  scarcely  any  such 
thing  as  science  in  the  present  sense  of  the  word. 
Chemistr}',  Geolog}-,  and  Biolog}^,  were  then  unknown, 
and  even  Astronomy  was  only  in  its  cradle.  Yet  even 
at  that  remote  period  this  Irish  missionary,  St.  Vir- 
gilius,  manifested  a  knowledge  of  science  centuries  in 
advance  of  his  time;  for  he  actually  taught  that  the 
earth  was  a  sphere,  though  during  hundreds  of  years 
before  and  after  him,  even  do^-n  to  the  time  of  Colum- 
bus, in  the  fifteenth  century,  it  was  the  common  behef 
of  mankind  that  the  earth  was  a  flat  surface,  with  the 
ocean  surging  round  it. 

In  the  following  centur\-,  histor}-  tells  us  of  a  still 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  115 

more  expert  scientist,  by  the  name  of  Dungal.  Strange 
to  say,  he  was  an  Irish  monk,  and  so  great  was  his 
fame  that  even  the  Emperor  Charlemagne  himself 
wrote  to  him  for  an  explanation  of  the  two  solar  eclipses 
which  are  said  to  have  occurred  in  the  year  810.  The 
letter  of  Dungal  in  reply  is  still  preserved  in  the  Ar- 
chives of  France;  it  is  written  in  excellent  Latin,  and 
it  is  very  doubtful  if  even  the  most  learned  scientist 
of  the  present  day  could  give  a  more  lucid  exposition 
of  the  cause  of  an  eclipse  than  that  given  by  this 
Irish  monk,  a  thousand  years  ago. 

But  the  king  of  all  the  Irish  scholars  before  the 
English  conquest  of  Ireland  was  a  man  by  the  name 
of  John  Scotus  Erigena.  He  was  undoubtedly  the 
most  learned  man  in  all  Western  Europe  during  the 
ninth  century.  So  great  was  his  learning  that  he 
was  spoken  of  Hke  Plato  as  the  "Master"  by  excel- 
lence, and  was  considered  as  ''a  miracle  of  knowledge." 
He  was  certainly  one  of  the  greatest  philosophers  that 
the  world  has  ever  seen  and  his  name  \\ill  ever  be 
ranked  with  those  of  Aristotle,  St.  Augustine,  and  St. 
Thomas  Aquinas.  As  the  Dominicans  have  their 
champion  in  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  so  the  Franciscans 
follow  the  teaching  of  Scotus,  and  are  called  Scotists. 

So  distinguished  did  Scotus  become  that  the  French 
King,  Charles  the  Bald,  invited  him  to  his  Court,  made 
him  head  of  the  royal  academy  in  his  own  palace,  and 
aftens'ards  promoted  him  to  be  the  Rector  of  the  Royal 
School  of  Paris.  It  was  there  that  he  wTote  the  great 
work  on  Predestination  which  has  made  his  name 
famous.     It  is  true  this  book  was  once  placed  tern- 


ii6  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

porarily  under  the  ban  of  the  Church.  However,  it 
must  be  well  understood  that  it  was  not  in  reality 
the  teachings  of  Scotus  that  were  condemned,  but 
other  doctrines  attributed  to  him  by  his  enemies,  but 
which  he  never  professed. 

Like  many  other  good  things  which  Ireland  has 
produced,  both  England  and  Scotland  have  claimed 
Scotus  as  their  own.  We  should  not  be  astonished 
at  this,  since  they  have  lately  laid  claim  even  to  St. 
Patrick  himself.  But  anyone  who  has  the  least 
knowledge  of  the  Irish  tongue  will  see  at  a  glance  that 
the  very  surname  of  Scotus  is  sufficient  evidence  to 
prove  that  he  was  an  Irishman,  not  an  Englishman  or 
a  Scot. 

Since  the  English  conquest  of  Erin,  the  island  has 
not  produced  any  more  scientists  or  philosophers 
like  Dungal,  VirgiHus,  or  Scotus.  A  bhght  seemed 
immediately  to  fall  on  the  mental  development  of 
the  Irish;  which  is  the  greatest  condemnation  of  Eng- 
lish misgovernment  of  Ireland.  Nevertheless,  a  few 
geniuses  like  Thomas  Moore,  Henry  Grattan,  and 
Daniel  O'Connell  beamed  forth  from  time  to  time 
like  stars  in  the  heavens.  However,  this  was  not  due 
to  Anglo-Saxon  civiHzation,  but  in  spite  of  it.  Yet, 
though  England  has  now  held  her  rival  bound  down 
in  chains  and  slavery  for  seven  hundred  years,  what 
has  she  to-day  that  can  compare  with  Erin's  glorious 
record  in  science  and  learning? 

As  we  have  already  observed,  the  first  Anglo-Saxons 
who  settled  in  Britain  were  a  band  of  rude  barbarians, 
and  whatever  knowledge  or  civilization  they  acquired. 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  117 

they  received  either  from  the  missionaries  of  the 
CathoHc  Church,  who  went  over  to  convert  them,  or 
else  in  the  celebrated  schools  of  Ireland. 

Even  the  famous  English  author,  Alcuin,  who  was 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  scholars  of  Europe  dur- 
ing the  eighth  century,  completed  his  education  in 
Ireland,  though  his  English  biographer  seems  un- 
wilUng  to  give  Erin  credit  for  it;  because  in  Enghsh 
history  it  is  stated  that  he  was  educated  in  the  famous 
Enghsh  school  of  York.  Fortunately,  however,  there 
still  exists  a  letter  written  by  Alcuin  from  the  Court  of 
France  to  his  former  professor  in  Ireland,  which  shows 
clearly  that  he  was  once  a  student  in  the  great  Irish 
school  of  Clonmacnoise,  near  the  modern  city  of 
Athlone,  as  we  read  in  the  "Ancient  Schools  and 
Scholars  of  Ireland,"  by  Bishop  Healy. 

For  five  hundred  years  after  Alcuin,  England  did 
not  produce  a  single  scientist  or  philosopher  worthy 
of  the  name,  until  the  rise  of  Roger  Bacon  in  the 
thirteenth  century. 

To  give  him  his  due,  he  certainly  was  one  of  the 
most  brilUant  philosophers  and  scientists  of  his  day 
so  that  he  received  from  his  contemporaries  the  title 
of  "Doctor  MirabiUs."  Yet,  when  our  modern  Eng- 
hsh writers  talk  so  ghbly  of  the  middle  ages,  which 
they  call  the  "Dark  Ages;"  when  they  declaim  so 
eloquently  about  the  ignorance  of  the  monks  of  old; 
when  they  denounce  the  Catholic  Church  as  the  sworn 
enemy  of  science,  they  httle  dream  that  the  great 
Roger  Bacon  himself  was  a  Franciscan  monk  who 
completed  his  studies,  like  many  of  his  countrymen. 


ii8  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

at  the  Catholic  University  of  Paris,  where  he  received 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Theology. 

His  principal  work  was  the  ^^Opus  Majus,^^  or  great 
book  in  which  he  abandons  entirely  the  old  deductive 
system  of  philosophy  and  strives  to  inaugurate  a  new 
process  of  acquiring  science  by  means  of  observation 
-and  experiment.  He  might  have  been  successful  if 
he  had  been  more  discreet,  but  his  intemperate  zeal 
in  the  cause  of  science  prompted  him  to  abuse  Scholas- 
ticism, the  prevailing  philosophy  of  that  time,  and  to 
make  the  most  violent  attacks  upon  the  clergy  who 
would  not  accept  his  new  scientific  theories.  Finally 
his  language  became  so  abusive  that  he  was  impris- 
oned by  the  members  of  his  own  order,  but  was  soon 
released  by  order  of  the  Pope  himself.  Nevertheless, 
instead  of  learning  a  lesson  from  past  experience,  he 
soon  became  more  insubordinate  than  ever  and  was 
incarcerated  the  second  time,  though  some  modem 
historians  make  the  ridiculous  assertion  that  he  was 
cast  into  prison  because  he  so  excelled  in  science  the 
people  of  his  time  that  he  was  regarded  as  a  sor- 
cerer. But  it  is  very  hard  to  see  any  grounds  for 
regarding  him  as  a  magician.  Some  English  writers 
of  recent  date  claim  that  he  was  acquainted  with 
the  use  of  the  telescope  two  centuries  before  its 
invention  by  Galileo  and  that  he  understood  the 
principle  of  the  locomotive  hundreds  of  years 
before  James  Watt  invented  the  steam  engine.  But 
these  assertions  are  based  rather  on  fancy  or  legend 
than  on  real  authentic  history.  So  the  only  rational 
ground  for  accusing  Bacon  of  sorcery  was  that  in  spite 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  119 

of  all  his  scientific  knowledge  some  nonsensical 
speculation  was  mingled  with  it;  for,  like  most  learned 
men  of  his  time,  he  believed  in  astrology,  that  so- 
called  science  which  regulates  the  destinies  of  men 
by  the  stars,  and  also  the  philosopher's  stone,  which 
was  supposed  to  have  the  power  of  changing  the  baser 
metals  into  gold. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  all  his  mistakes,  Roger  Bacon 
did  a  great  deal  for  science  by  calling  the  attention  of 
men  to  the  investigation  of  nature  and  to  the  ob- 
servance of  natural  phenomena.  Three  centuries 
later,  a  namesake  of  his,  Francis  Bacon,  developed 
the  principles  laid  down  by  Roger  Bacon  and  upon, 
them  as  a  foundation  built  up  an  elaborate  system  of 
inductive  philosophy  which  has  prevailed  to  the 
present  day.  Hence  Francis  Bacon  is  called  "the 
father  of  modern  science,"  though  it  would  seem 
far  more  just  to  bestow  the  title  on  the  Franciscan 
friar,  Roger  Bacon,  who  sowed  the  seed,  while 
Francis  Bacon  reaped  the  harvest.  However,  both 
made  a  great  mistake  in  discountenancing  entirely 
the  old  deductive  system  of  philosophy,  for  it  is  now 
universally  recognized  that  in  the  acquisition  of 
science  deduction  and  induction  must  go  hand  in 
hand. 

Long  after  the  time  of  Francis  Bacon  it  was  almost 
universally  accepted  as  a  fact  that  abnost  all  scientific 
progress  of  modern  times  w^as  due  to  the  scientific 
method  which  he  perfected.  Recently,  however,  a 
more  moderate  \\QVi  has  begun  to  prevail  and  it  is  now 
the  general  opinion  of  scientists  that  Francis  Bacoa 


I2Q  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

as  a  philosopher  has  been  considerably  overrated. 
Yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  it  was  his  inductive 
system  that  led  another  great  English  scientist,  Sir 
Isaac  Newton,  to  discover  the  law  of  universal  gravita- 
tion from  the  mere  fall  of  an  apple  from  the  tree. 
On  the  same  principle  he  ascertained  the  cause  of  the 
rotation  of  the  earth  on  its  axis,  the  rise  and  fall  of  the 
tides  of  the  ocean,  and  the  motion  of  all  the  planets 
in  the  heavens.  This  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the 
grandest  of  modem  discoveries  and  crowned  Newton 
as  the  greatest  of  all  EngHsh  scientists.  Yet  even 
Newton  himself  acknowledged  that  his  law  of  gravita- 
sion  is  based  on  the  discoveries  of  a  great  German 
scientist  by  the  name  of  Kepler. 

But,  since  the  time  of  Newton,  a  period  of  more  than 
two  hundred  years,  England  has  not  produced  a  single 
scientist  or  philosopher  worthy  of  the  name.  With 
the  exception  of  Joseph  Priestly,  who  discovered 
oxygen  in  1776,  and  Dr.  Jenner,  who  invented  vacci- 
nation as  an  antidote  against  the  terrible  scourge  of 
small-pox  in  1796,  not  another  EngUshman  has  added 
one  additional  fact  to  the  sum  total  of  scientific 
truth. 

It  is  true,  during  the  last  two  centuries  England 
has  given  birth  to  a  great  many  so-called  scientists 
and  philosophers,  such  as  Hobbes,  Locke,  Hume, 
Spencer,  Mill,  Tyndall,  Huxley,  and  Darwin;  but  their 
writings  are  as  entangled  as  an  African  jungle  and  the 
poor  men  seem  to  be  continually  groping  their  way 
in  the  dark.  They  all  seemed  to  consider  it  a  sign 
of  superior  intelligence  to  call  in  question  all  that 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  lai 

their  Christian  ancestors  had  considered  sacred  for 
nineteen  hundred  years. 

Some  Hke  Hobbes  and  Spencer  denied  the  existence 
of  free-will;  others  Uke  Hume  were  mere  sceptics  or 
doubters,  and  alleged  that  it  was  impossible  to  attain 
certainty  of  any  kind;  but  the  great  majority  like 
Huxley  and  Tyndall  were  not  indeed  downright  athe- 
ists or  infidels  who  denied  the  very  existence  of  God, 
yet  they  declared  that  God  was  unknown  and  un- 
knowable. They  did  not  deny  that  there  might  be 
some  first  great  cause,  some  such  wonderful  being, 
whom  men  called  God,  but  they  candidly  confessed 
that  they  did  not  know.  Hence  they  were  called 
Agnostics,  or  know-nothings — a  very  good  name  for 
them  indeed — for  Holy  Scripture  says  that:  ^'^  Only  the 
fool  hath  said  in  his  heart  there  is  no  God."  We  also 
read  in  the  Book  of  Wisdom  that:  "All  men  are  vain 
in  whom  there  is  not  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  who 
by  these  things  that  are  seen  could  not  understand 
Him  that  is,  neither  by  attending  the  works  have  ac- 
knowledged Who  was  the  Workman." 

But  the  crowning  folly  of  the  nineteenth  century 
was  the  theory  of  the  English  scientist  Darwin,  who 
set  at  naught  the  whole  biblical  narration  of  the  crea- 
tion and  claimed  that  man,  instead  of  being  a  noble 
creature  made  to  the  image  and  likeness  of  God,  was 
actually  a  descendant  of  the  ape.  Even  this  absurd 
doctrine,  so  contrary  to  reason,  and  so  opposed  to  the 
universal  belief  of  all  mankind  for  thousands  of  years, 
for  a  while  found  its  adherents.  But  when  men 
began  to  enquire  for  the  "missing  link"  between  man 


122  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

and  the  brute  creation,  the  theory  of  evolution  dashed 
itself  against  a  rock  and  was  shattered  into  a  thousand 
fragments,  so  that  now  only  some  poor  benighted 
scholars  still  make  profession  of  faith  in  it. 

Could  anyone  but  an  Englishman  originate  such 
an  absurd  doctrine  as  that  ?  If  an  Irishman  were  the 
author  of  it,  he  would  be  the  laughing-stock  of  the 
world.  But,  thanks  be  to  God!  no  Irishman  was 
ever  the  inventor  of  such  nonsense.  In  the  realms 
of  science  therefore,  we  have  reason  to  be  proud  of 
the  glorious  record  of  our  race  in  comparison  with 
that  of  the  Anglo-Saxon. 


CHAPTER  V. 

A   Comparative  Glance  at   Irish   and   English 
Literature. 

THERE  is  no  better  test  of  the  superiority  of  one 
nation  or  race  over  another  than  its  preemi- 
nence in  literary  culture.  As  the  great  Domin- 
ican, Father  Lacordaire,  has  well  said:  "Every  re- 
markable man  has  been  fond  of  literature."  The 
same  may  be  said  of  every  remarkable  nation.  But 
no  nation,  either  of  ancient  or  modern  times,  has  a 
more  glorious  record  in  the  field  of  literature  than 
poor,  down-trodden  Ireland. 

When  we  consider  how  often  Ireland  has  been 
ravaged  by  fire  and  sword,  first  by  the  Danes  and  later 
by  the  English,  could  we  be  astonished  if  not  a  single 
trace  of  its  literary  productions  had  been  left  in  the 
whole  island?  Yet  at  the  present  day  there  still  re- 
main in  the  archives  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  and 
of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  a  vast  number  of  rare 
ancient  Irish  books  and  manuscripts,  which  are  a 
most  convincing  proof  of  the  Uterary  culture  of  their 
authors.  As  the  Irish  national  poet,  Thomas  Moore, 
said  in  the  year  1839,  when  inspecting  these  precious 
documents:  "These  huge  tomes  could  not  have  been 
written  by  fools  or  for  any  foohsh  purpose." 

Several  of  these  antique,  Hterary  works  were  trans- 
lated during  the  last  century  by  the  great  Gaehc 
scholar,  O 'Curry.     It  was  indeed  a  task  of  no  small 


124  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

labor  and  hardship;  but  what  pained  him  most  was 
to  ascertain  how  many  other  invaluable  Irish  manu- 
scripts are  lost  forever.  Their  names  alone  remain 
to  us  preserved  in  the  pages  of  those  venerable  books 
which  are  still  extant.  What  a  pity  that  more  of  our 
clever  young  Irishmen  and  Irish-Americans  do  not 
turn  their  attention  to  this  noble  work,  in  order  to 
demonstrate  to  the  modern  world  how  lofty  was  the 
genius  of  our  ancestors!  What  a  shame  that  when 
the  Catholics  of  America  want  at  the  present  day  a 
Gaelic  professor  for  their  university,  they  have  to 
engage  a  Welshman  or  a  German,  to  expound  to 
them  the  sublime  literature  of  their  forefathers!  Our 
Irish  and  Irish-American  youth  have  been  trained  up 
to  admire  the  beauties  of  Shakespeare,  Milton,  Homer, 
Virgil,  Plato,  Cicero,  and  Demosthenes;  but  what  do 
they  know  about  the  literature  of  their  own  ancestors, 
which  is  far  more  sublime  than  the  greatest  master- 
pieces of  English  literature  or  the  choicest  classics 
of  Greece  and  Rome? 

Nearly  seventeen  centuries  ago,  that  is  more  than 
a  thousand  years  before  Columbus  discovered  Amer- 
ica, two  hundred  years  before  St.  Patrick  landed  in 
Ireland,  and  likewise  two  centuries  before  England 
received  its  present  name,  Ireland  was  even  then 
famous  for  her  literary  productions  in  prose  and  poetry. 
In  this  chapter  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  her  prose 
writings,  reserving  her  poetical  compositions  to  the 
succeeding  chapter. 

In  the  year  250,  A.  D.,  the  great  Irish  King,  Cormac, 
wrote  a   celebrated   book  called:   "Instructions  for 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  125 

Princes,"  which  is  preserved  even  to  this  day.  It 
contains  the  last  injunctions  of  the  Irish  monarch  to 
his  son,  who  was  the  heir  to  his  throne;  and  the  great 
Irish  historian,  Macgeoghegan,  assures  us  that: 
*'It  contains  as  goodly  precepts  and  moral  documents 
as  Cato  or  Aristotle  did  ever  write."  But  that  was 
not  the  only  hterary  work  composed  by  King  Cormac. 
He  wrote,  also,  a  history  of  Ireland  from  the  first  settle- 
ment of  the  country  down  to  his  own  time;  but  un- 
fortunately that  has  perished  in  the  course  of  ages. 
Does  not  this  prove  that  even  in  the  third  century 
of  the  Christian  era  there  must  have  been  a  consider- 
able amount  of  Uterary  culture  in  Celtic  Ireland? 

Where  were  our  English  cousins  at  that  time? 
They  had  not  yet  set  foot  in  Britain,  nor  for  two 
hundred  years  afterwards.  They  were  still  only  rude 
barbarians  inhabiting  the  forests  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Elbe  River,  between  Germany  and  Denmark,  though 
making  frequent  excursions  to  plunder  their  neighbors, 
an  art  which  they  have  never  forgotten  since,  and  a 
science  in  which  they  have  always  excelled.  It  was 
only  in  the  fifth  century  of  the  present  era  that  they 
landed  in  Britain  and  it  took  them  two  hundred  years 
more  to  produce  a  single  literary  man  worthy  of  the 
name.  Their  first  great  author  was  the  Venerable 
Bede,  who  flourished  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighth 
century,  about  five  hundred  years  after  the  great  Irish 
writer,  King  Cormac.  Bede  was  certainly  a  very 
learned  man  and  he  bequeathed  to  posterity  a  great 
many  excellent  educational  works;  but  his  English 
biographers  very  seldom  mention  that  he  received  all 


126  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

his  education  from  an  English  monk  who  had  studied 
in  Rome.  When  our  modern  English  authors  revile 
the  monks  of  old  how  httle  they  imagine  that  to  them 
they  are  indebted,  for  their  first  great  literary  author! 

Nevertheless,  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  consider  Bede 
the  father  of  Enghsh  literature,  because  he  wrote 
all  his  works  in  Latin,  which  was  the  language  taught 
him  by  his  monastic  masters.  After  him  England 
did  not  give  birth  to  a  single  literary  author  worth 
mentioning  for  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  till 
the  rise  of  King  Alfred  in  the  ninth  century.  Even  he, 
though  a  very  worthy  man,  hardly  deserves  to  be 
called  an  author;  because  all  that  he  accompUshed 
in  the  field  of  literature  was  to  translate  into  English 
some  of  the  works  of  Bede  and  a  few  other  great 
Latin  writers.  It  was  only  in  the  fourteenth  century 
that  England  begot  her  first  real  great  EngHsh  author, 
a  man  by  the  name  of  John  Wickhffe,  who  has  been 
styled  the  "Father  of  EngHsh  Prose";  though  his 
chief  claim  to  that  title  is  based  on  the  allegation  that 
he  was  the  first  to  translate  the  whole  Bible  into 
English. 

In  the  meantime,  Ireland  had  brought  her  own 
Celtic  hterature  to  a  state  of  muturity  even  before  Eng- 
Hsh literature  had  well  begun.  After  the  introduction 
of  Christianity  into  the  island,  there  grew  up  over  the 
old  Pagan  Hterature  as  a  foundation  a  new  species  of 
Christian  Hterature,  many  specimens  of  which  are 
still  preserved  in  Trinity  College  and  the  Royal  Irish 
Academy.  Though  many  valuable  books  written  by 
our  Christian  ancestors  have  perished,  yet  so  many 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  127 

others  still  remain  that  it  would  be  a  tedious  task 
merely  to  enumerate  their  names.  However,  there  are 
three  worthy  of  special  mention — the  Book  of  Armagh, 
the  Book  of  Leinster,  and  the  Book  of  Kells.  From 
these  we  may  form  a  fair  estimate  of  the  early  Christian 
literature  of  Ireland. 

The  first  is  called  the  Book  of  Armagh  because, 
though  it  is  at  present  in  the  custody  of  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  it  belonged  originally  to  the  Cathedral  Church 
of  Armagh,  which  was  founded  by  St.  Patrick  in  the 
fifth  century.  In  its  present  form  it  has  come  down 
to  us  from  the  ninth  century;  but  it  is  evidently  much 
more  ancient  than  that,  for  it  was  then  transcribed 
from  a  far  older  document.  We  can  judge  of  its 
antiquity  from  the  fact  that  it  contains  the  life  of  St. 
Patrick,  the  original  of  which  was  written  in  Latin 
by  his  own  hand,  though  it  bears  many  annotations 
in  Irish,  in  the  most  ancient  form  of  the  language 
now  to  be  found  anywhere.  Next  comes  an  entire 
copy  of  the  New  Testament  with  all  the  Gospels  and 
Epistles  written  in  Latin,  the  language  of  the  Church. 
But  what  is  most  remarkable,  many  of  the  Gospel 
headings  are  written  in  Greek  characters.  We  can 
judge  therefore,  what  was  the  literary  culture  of  Irish 
scholars  even  at  that  early  day,  since  they  were  versed 
not  only  in  their  own  language  but  also  in  the  classics 
of  Greece  and  Rome. 

Next  in  importance  after  the  Book  of  Armagh  is  the 
Book  of  Leinster,  so-called  because  it  was  compiled 
in  the  twelfth  century  from  early  Irish  documents  by 
the  Bishop  of  Kildare  for  the  instruction  of  the  young 


128  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Irish  Prince  of  Leinster,  Dermot  McMurrough,  who 
afterwards  betrayed  his  country.  Its  contents  are  of 
an  exceedingly  varied  and  interesting  character — 
heroic  tales  and  poems,  genealogies,  lives  of  the  saints, 
and  various  tracts  used  in  the  Irish  monastic  schools, 
dealing  with  both  sacred  and  profane  learning. 

But  probably  more  interesting  than  either  of  these 
is  the  Book  of  Kells;  though  it  is  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  a  copy  of  the  New  Testament  written  by  the 
great  Irish  missionary,  St.  Columba,  in  the  sixth 
century.  He  founded  a  monaster}^  near  the  City  of 
Kells  in  the  County  of  Meath,  and  after  his  death  the 
monks  preserved  as  a  precious  heirloom  the  New 
Testament  which  he  bequeathed  to  them.  Hence  it 
is  called  the  Book  of  Kells,  though,  like  most  other 
precious  Irish  documents,  it  has  passed  into  the 
possession  of  Trinity  College. 

But  what  is  most  remarkable  about  this  famous 
book  is  its  elaborate  ornamentation  and  brilliant 
coloring,  which  has  made  it  the  wonder  of  the  world. 
Indeed  no  tourist  travelling  to  Ireland  from  a  foreign 
land  would  consider  his  journey  complete  unless  he 
saw  with  his  own  eyes  the  celebrated  Book  of  Kells. 
It  is  said  that  no  description  can  give  an  adequate 
idea  of  it.  It  must  be  seen  and  studied  to  be  appre- 
ciated. 

Yet  what  has  been  said  of  the  ornamentation  of 
the  Book  of  Kells  is  equally  true  of  all  the  other  an- 
cient Irish  manuscripts.  Nobody  carried  this  literary 
ornamentation  to  such  a  high  degree  of  perfection  as 
the    ancient    Irish    monks;    which    certainly    speaks 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  129 

volumes  for  their  indefatigable  industry  and  their  in- 
comparable artistic  skill.  A  certain  Welsh  traveller 
by  the  name  of  Gerald  Barry,  who  once  went  over  to 
Ireland  during  the  middle  ages,  tells  us  how  astonished 
he  was  on  beholding  the  brilHantly-illumined  Gospel 
books  of  the  monastic  schools  of  Kildare.  All  the 
skill  of  the  monks  and  of  their  pupils  was  exerted  to 
adorn  the  Word  of  God  in  a  manner  befitting  its  sacred 
character.  Hence,  he  speaks  of  one  manuscript  of 
the  four  gospels  which  was  so  exquisitely  illuminated 
with  various  figures  on  every  page  that  the  people 
really  believed  it  was  the  work  of  an  angel.  ''And 
indeed,"  says  this  Welshman,  "the  symbohcal  figures 
of  the  Evangehsts  were  so  wrought  in  every  variety  of 
coloring,  with  such  subtility  and  grace,  and  all  the 
other  drawings  and  figures  were  likewise  so  delicate 
and  subtile,  that  one  would  really  think  it  was  the 
work  of  angelic  hands  and  not  of  mere  human  skill." 
What  has  England  that  can  compare  with  the  Book 
of  Armagh,  the  Book  of  Leinster  and  the  famous 
Book  of  Kells?  Nothing  whatever.  For  o\er  a 
hundred  years  after  Wickliffe,  the  ''father  of  English 
prose,"  she  produced  only  a  lot  of  hterary  pigmies, 
whose  very  names  have  either  perished  or  can  be 
found  only  in  the  pages  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britan- 
nica.  It  is  true  that  the  introduction  of  the  art  of 
printing  into  England  by  Caxton  in  the  fifteenth 
century  stimulated  the  spread  of  literature;  yet  of 
the  forty -five  books  which  he  pubHshed  forty-two  were 
only  translations  from  the  French  or  Latin.  Not  a 
solitary  literary  genius  made  his  appearance  in  Eng- 


I30  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

land  until  Thomas  Alore,  in  1516,  wrote  his  famous 
' '  Utopia. ' '  Even  that  is  not  original ;  for  it  is  modelled 
on  Plato's  Atlantis.  Besides,  it  was  first  written  in 
the  Latin  language,  though  afterwards  translated 
into  English. 

The  reign  of  Queen  Ehzabeth  is  called  the  ^'golden 
age  of  English  literature"  yet  what  Kterary  lights 
did  it  produce?  Only  Spencer  and  Shakespeare. 
The  plays  of  Shakespeare  are  certainly  masterpieces 
that  have  stood  the  test  of  time  and  are  in  our  theatres 
even  at  the  present  day  received  with  great  applause. 
Nevertheless,  the  composition  of  comedies  and  trag- 
edies is  not  by  any  means  the  highest  form  of  literary 
genius.  Besides,  it  is  now  universally  acknowledged 
that  many  of  Shakespeare's  dramas  were  not  original. 
The  plots  and  incidents  of  at  least  a  dozen  are  taken 
from  Italian  authors.  This  is  especially  true  of 
Othello  and  Romeo  and  Juliet,  which  are  founded  on 
an  ItaHan  novel,  though  the  gallant  EngHshman  has 
failed  to  give  the  author  credit  for  it.  In  the  field  of 
literature,  as  in  every  other  field  the  EngHsh  have  no 
scruple  in  appropriating  other  people's  property. 
They  seem  to  think  that  the  whole  world  belongs  to 
them.  How  Shakespeare  acquired  his  knowledge  of 
ItaUan  Hterature,  as  he  never  received  much  education 
in  his  youth,  we  can  now  only  surmise.  He  may 
have  learned  the  language  from  some  Italians  whom  he 
afterwards  met  in  London ;  or  perhaps  his  mother  may 
have  been  an  Italian  and  taught  him  her  native  tongue 
in  his  childhood.  However,  it  is  more  likely  that 
whatever  knowledge  of  Italian  literature  he  possessed 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  131 

he  derived  from  the  translations  of  ItaUan  authors 
which,  as  we  have   seen,  were   pubhshed  by  Caxton 
after    the    introduction    of    the    printing-press    into 
England.     Not  only  did  Shakespeare  draw^  the  mate- 
rial of  his  dramas  from  Italian  but  also  from.  Irish 
sources.     This  is  evident  from  his  ghost  scene  in 
Hamlet;  for  it  is  well-known  that  the  beUef  in  fairies 
is  not  a  characteristic  of  the  Enghsh  but  a  striking 
peculiarity  of  the  Irish  people.     In  his  poetical  works 
too,  Shakespeare  was  hkewise  greatly  influenced  by 
the  ItaUan  Poets,  Tasso  and  Ariosto;  but,  as  we  are 
now  concerned  only  with  prose  composition,  we  shall 
refer  to  that  more  extensively  in  the  succeeding  chapter. 
Nevertheless,    even   with   all   his   assistance    from 
foreign   authors,    Shakespeare's   plays   are   a    pitiful 
form  of  hterature  in  comparison  with  the  great  Irish 
literary  work  that  was  pubhshed  a  few  years  after  this, 
and  is  now  widely  quoted  even  by  English  authors. 
We  refer  to  the  famous  history  of  Ireland  called  "The 
Annals  of  the  Four  Masters."     It  is  called  the  Annals 
of  the  Four  Masters,  because  the  four  men  who  wrote 
it  were  so  celebrated  for  their  learning  and  erudition. 
The  editor-in-chief  was  a  Franciscan  lay-brother  called 
Michael  O'Clery.     He  was  assisted  by  his  brother, 
Conary  O'Clery,  his  cousin.  Peregrine  O'Clery,  and 
Ferfeasa    O'Mulconry.     Though    eminent    in    anti- 
quarian lore,  it  took  them  four  years  to  complete  this 
great  historical  work  and  no  wonder,  for  it  comprises 
seven  large  quarto  volumes.     It  is  dedicated  to  a 
noble-hearted  Irish  chieftain  called  Ferral  O'Gara, 
who  was  the  patron  of  this  great  Hterary  undertaking 


132  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

and  paid  all  the  expenses  of  the  enterprise.  Some 
years  afterwards  it  was  translated  into  English  by 
Dr.  John  O 'Donovan  and  is  now  recognized  as  a 
standard  authority  on  all  Irish  historical  subjects; 
as  all  its  data  are  taken  from  original  sources.  There 
is  no  masterpiece  of  histor}'  Hke  this  in  native  English 
literature.  The  nearest  approach  to  it  is  Macaulay's 
"History  of  England";  but  that  is  a  work  of  only  five 
volumes  and  extends  over  a  period  of  only  a  couple 
of  centuries;  but  the  ''Annals  of  the  Four  Masters" 
comprises  the  vast  range  of  twenty-three  hundred 
years,  from  730  B.  C.  to  1616  A.  D. 

This  remarkable  publication  was  the  last  great 
literary  production  of  the  Irish  in  their  native  tongue. 
Henceforth  the  Irish  language  gradually  ceased  to  be 
the  medium  of  literature  and  since  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  the  Irish  people  have  been  compelled,  we 
regret  to  say,  to  express  their  ideas  in  English,  the 
language  of  their  conquerors.  Everyone  knows  how 
difficult  it  is  to  communicate  one's  thoughts  in  a 
foreign  tongue.  We  can  readily  realize,  therefore, 
how  difficult  it  must  have  been  for  our  forefathers  to 
compete  with  the  English  in  their  own  native  tongue. 
Yet  those  who  are  well  versed  in  Enghsh  Uterature 
and  have  studied  English  rhyme  of  the  sixteenth 
century  know  without  a  doubt  that  what  people  call 
at  the  present  time  the  "Irish  Brogue"  is  in  reality 
the  correct  pronunciation  of  English  v/hich  prevailed 
three  centuries  ago.  Since  then  the  English  them- 
selves have  altered  their  pronunciation;  but  the  Irish 
have  preserved  it  in  its  original  purity. 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  133 

Moreover,  the  Irish  have  actually  outstripped  the 
English  in  their  own  language.  They  have  added 
to  English  literature  a  certain  warmth  and  animation, 
a  certain  richness  of  imagery,  a  certain  power  of 
imagination,  and  a  wit  and  humor  which  the  dull, 
cold,  phlematic  Anglo-Saxon  has  never  possessed  and 
can  never  hope  to  acquire.  Some  of  the  grandest 
masterpieces  of  EngHsh  literature  composed  during 
the  past  three  hundred  years  have  been  the  work  of 
Irishmen. 

As  the  reign  of  Queen  EUzabeth  has  been  called  the 
golden  age,  so  that  of  Queen  Anne  may  be  styled  the 
diamond  epoch  of  English  literature.  No  similar 
period  of  EngUsh  history  can  boast  of  so  many  brilUant 
literary  geniuses,  especially  in  prose  composition, 
as  flourished  during  that  time.  But  of  all  that 
grand  galaxy  of  intellectual  hghts  the  foremost 
prose  writers  were  Addison,  Steele,  and  Swift.  In 
the  history  of  English  literature  these  three  great 
luminaries  are  represented  as  EngUsh  authors,  but 
the  fact  is  that  only  one,  Mr.  Addison,  was  an  English- 
man; and  the  other  two,  though  of  English  descent, 
were  real  native-bom  Irishmen.  Not  only  were  Steele 
and  Swift  Irish  by  birth,  but  they  Hkewise  received 
most  of  their  early  education  in  Ireland  and  their 
literature,  though  in  the  EngHsh  language,  is  thorough- 
ly Hibernian  in  its  characteristics.  Indeed  it  was  their 
vigorous  Celtic  style  that  m.ade  their  writings  so  famous 
and  gave  them  such  a  high  place  in  English  literature. 
The  candid  truth  is  that  the  two  Irishmen  outstripped 
the  Enghshman  in  his  own  native  tongue.     As  an 


134  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

essayist,  with  perhaps  the  single  exception  of  Lord 
Macaulay,  no  other  author  holds  such  a  lofty  station 
in  the  estimation  of  English  readers  as  Joseph  Addison. 
But,  when  the  mists  of  national  prejudice  will  have 
passed  away,  Steele  and  Swift  will  hold  a  higher  place 
in  literature  than  even  the  gifted  Addison. 

In  reality  it  was  Steele  that  developed  Addison  into 
a  literary  author  by  inducing  him  to  contribute  articles 
to  his  newspapers,  the  Tatler,  the  Spectator,  and  the 
Guardian.  Thus  originated  those  charming  essays 
of  Addison  which  are  read  with  so  much  pleasure  and 
profit  at  the  present  day. 

Nevertheless,  if  we  scrutinize  closely  these  literary 
productions,  we  cannot  fail  observing  that  there  is 
something  essential  lacking  in  each  and  every  one  of 
them.  Critics  judge  literature  by  four  marks — ex- 
cellence of  matter,  clearness,  force,  and  polish. 
Three  out  of  these  four  marks  Addison's  essays 
certainly  possess.  The  subject  matter  is  excellent, 
the  thought  is  elevated,  the  style  is  clear  and  polished; 
but  the  fourth  mark  of  literary  genius,  which  is  vigor 
of  expression,  is  sadly  wanting.  Hence  all  of  Addi- 
son's writings  are  dolefully  lacking  in  the  great  power 
of  conviction;  because  of  a  certain  dullness  and  cold- 
ness characteristic  of  almost  all  Anglo-Saxon  authors. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  great  Irish  author.  Dean 
Swift,  was  remarkably  vigorous  in  style  but  sometimes 
lacking  in  polish.  While  Addison's  essays  may  be 
compared  to  a  smooth,  but  deep,  gently-flowing  river 
steadily,  though  imperceptibly,  winding  its  course  to 
the  sea.  Swift's  writings  were  like  a  whirlwind  whidi 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  135 

swept  everything  before  it,  or  like  the  waters  of  the 
mighty  Mississippi,  rushing  along  with  irresistible 
onset  to  the  boundless  ocean.  Swift  was  certainly 
the  most  powerful  writer  that  flourished  during  the 
reign  of  Queen  Anne.  Even  the  highest  politicians 
and  the  greatest  lords  in  all  England  dreaded  his 
mighty  pen.  Never  before  was  so  clearly  demon- 
strated the  old  proverb  that  "The  pen  is  mightier  than 
the  sword."  His  famous  work  called  "GulUver's 
Travels"  was  certainly  a  marvel  of  genius,  such  as 
even  the  gifted  Addison  himself  in  his  palmiest  days 
could  never  write.  Hence  it  was  said  that  "  Jonathan 
Swift  was  the  Goliath  among  English  writers  in  the 
reign  of  Queen  Anne;  and  there  arose  no  David  who 
could  slay  him." 

Nevertheless,  according  to  the  canons  of  eminent 
literary  critics,  another  Irishman,  Richard  Steele, 
holds  a  still  higher  place  in  literature  than  his  con- 
temporary, the  great  Dean  Swift;  for  Steele's  works 
bear  in  their  integrity  the  four  marks  of  Uterary  genius. 
His  writings  had  the  poUsh  of  Addison,  the  vigor  of 
Swift;  and  besides,  a  certain  vivacity  and  charm 
peculiar  to  himself,  that  is  simply  inimitable. 

Though  he  was  himself  a  rather  dissolute  character, 
yet  no  other  one  man  did  more  than  Steele  to  elevate 
the  standard  of  Enghsh  Hterature  and  upUft  Enghsh 
society  from  the  degraded  condition  to  which  it  had 
fallen  at  the  opening  of  the  eighteenth  century.  At 
the  accession  of  Queen  Anne  to  the  throne,  the  state 
of  society  in  England  was  truly  deplorable.  The  long 
wars  of  King  William  III.  had  produced  their  inevi- 


136  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

table  result.  Corruption  and  immorality  existed  oa 
all  sides,  coarseness  and  ferocity  of  manners  pre- 
vailed among  all  classes,  high  and  low.  Gambling 
was  exceedingly  prevalent,  and  drunkenness  was 
universally  habitual.  But  intellectual  pursuits  were 
either  unknown  or  confined  to  a  few,  and  these  few 
regarded  as  pedants  or  humorists.  Dr.  Samuel 
Johnson,  who  was  himself  one  of  the  great  Englisb 
prose  writers  of  the  eighteenth  century,  assures  us 
that:  "Then  men  were  not  ashamed  of  ignorance  and 
among  women  any  acquaintance  with  books  was  dis- 
tinguished only  to  be  criticised." 

The  first  to  combat  the  follies  of  that  coarse  age — 
the  first  one  who  manfully  labored  to  raise  up  the 
English  nation  from  its  brutal  ignorance  and  grovelling 
condition  was  the  Irish  Richard  Steele.  To  acccmi- 
phsh  that  result  he  established  the  Tatler,  a  sort  of 
penny  newspaper,  whose  object  was  to  expose  the 
false  arts  of  Hfe ;  to  tear  off  the  mask  of  English  cun- 
ning, vanity,  and  ostentation;  and  to  recommend 
simplicity  in  dress,  discourse,  and  behavior.  Before 
long  there  was  observed  a  marked  improvement  in 
the  manners  of  the  people.  Instead  of  debasing 
pleasures  and  debauchery  they  began  to  practice 
honesty  and  sobriety;  instead  of  cunning  and  hypoc- 
risy they  manifested  a  genuine  spirit  of  kindness 
towards  their  neighbor;  and  henceforth  they  seemed 
to  have  much  loftier  ideas  of  duty  and  honor. 

Steele  next  started  the  Spectator,  which  has  become 
famous  in  British  periodical  Uterature.  It  is  looked 
upon  as  an  English  classic;  and  Professor  Moriey 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  137 

tells  us  that:  "It  was  through  the  Tatler  and  the 
Spectator  that  the  people  of  England  learned  to  read." 
Yet  how  frequently  have  not  EngHsh  writers  almost 
up  to  the  present  day  referred  to  Steele's  countrymen 
as:  "The  low,  ignorant  Irish"! 

But  there  is  no  department  of  prose  Uterature  in 
which  the  genius  of  the  Irish  so  completely  eclipses 
that  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  as  in  the  field  of  oratory. 
Poor  England  has  been  very  barren  indeed  in  great 
orators.  Even  in  our  own  day  she  can  boast  of  several 
clever  speakers  such  as  Disraeli,  Gladstone,  and 
Chamberlain,  but  since  the  Saxons  landed  in  Britain 
fifteen  centuries  ago  she  produced  only  one  man  who 
really  deserves  to  be  called  an  orator.  That  was  the 
celebrated  WilUam  Pitt,  the  Earl  of  Chatham,  and 
one  of  the  seven  great  orators  of  the  world. 

On  the  other  hand,  Ireland  has  four  great  orators 
to  England's  one.  Burke,  Sheridan,  Grattan,  and 
O'Connell  were  masters  of  eloquence  such  as  the 
world  had  never  heard  before;  and  their  names  will 
hve  in  history  as  long  as  the  world  exists.  Edmond 
Burke  was  great  not  only  as  an  orator  but  also  as  an 
essayist.  His  "Essay  on  the  Sublime  and  Beautiful" 
stands  in  the  front  rank  of  Enghsh  classics,  and  holds 
the  same  place  in  EngUsh  prose  that  Shakespeare 
does  in  English  verse.  His  "Reflections  on  the  French 
Revolution,"  Hkewise,  has  been  pronounced  the 
masterpiece  of  masterpieces.  However,  it  is  his 
wonderful  oratorical  productions  that  have  given  him 
such  a  prominent  place  in  the  book  of  fame  and 
rendered  his  name  immortal. 


138  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Burke's  first  great  oratorical  effort  was  in  the  im- 
peachment of  Warren  Hastings  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  His  speech,  which  lasted  for  nine  days, 
was  a  masterpiece  of  oratory  surpassing  the  grandest 
flights  of  eloquence  by  Cicero  or  Demosthenes  of  old 
and  its  effect  was  perfectly  indescribable.  Ladies 
sobbed  and  screamed,  stern  men  felt  the  tears  trickUng 
down  their  cheeks,  and  Warren  Hastings  himself 
afterwards  asserted  that  then  he  thought  his  hour 
of  doom  had  come.  What  wonder  that  Lord 
Macaulay  declared  that  Burke  was  "the  greatest 
master  of  eloquence,  superior  to  every  orator,  an- 
cient  or  modern"! 

Indeed,  it  is  very  difficult  to  say  which  of  these  four 
Irish  orators  was  the  greatest.  They  are  hke  the 
pyramids  of  ancient  Egypt,  with  their  massive  propor- 
tions and  lofty  stature,  or  Hke  the  pinnacles  of  a  high 
mountain  soaring  aloft  to  the  sky.  When  we  gaze 
at  one  we  consider  that  the  loftiest,  but,  on  looking 
at  another,  we  instantly  change  our  mind.  So  it  is 
when  we  compare  Burke  and  Sheridan.  The  first 
great  speech  of  Sheridan,  too,  was  in  the  impeach- 
ment of  Warren  Hastings.  It  occupied  more  than 
five  hours  in  the  delivery;  and  Burke  himself  declared 
it  to  be  ''the  most  astonishing  effort  of  eloquence, 
argument,  and  wit  united  of  which  there  is  any  record 
or  tradition."  Even  the  great  English  orator,  Pitt, 
himself  acknowledged  that  it  "surpassed  all  the  elo- 
quence of  ancient  and  modern  times  and  possessed 
everything  that  genius  or  art  could  furnish  to  agitate 
or  control  the  human  mind." 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  139 

Not  only  was  Sheridan  a  most  eloquent  orator,  but 
also  a  very  successful  dramatic  wTiter.  His  comedy 
called  the  ''School  for  Scandal"  has  been  pronounced 
by  the  highest  critics  the  best  in  the  EngHsh  language. 
It  created  such  a  favorable  im.pression  at  the  first 
performance  that  it  was  translated  into  German 
and  won  the  greatest  applause  in  the  cities  along  the 
Rhine  and  Danube.  He  was  likewise  the  author  of 
an  opera  called  the  "Duenna"  which  was  then  the 
best  of  its  kind  on  the  stage;  and,  by  a  strange  coin- 
cidence, these  productions  were  winning  wild  applause 
in  the  theatres  of  London  the  very  night  that  the 
gifted  author  himself  was  delivering  in  the  British 
ParUament  the  most  eloquent  harangue  ever  delivered 
within  its  walls. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  all  his  talent,  it  is  a  mooted 
question  whether  Sheridan  was  superior  to  that  other 
great  Irish  orator,  Henry  Grattan,  who  by  the  irresist- 
ible power  of  a  single  speech  secured  triumphantly 
the  independence  of  the  Irish  Parliament  and  the 
Irish  nation.  His  biographer  assures  us  that  it  "was> 
the  most  splendid  piece  of  eloquence  that  had  ever 
been  heard  in  Ireland  and  it  vies  with  the  greatest 
efforts  that  had  ever  been  made  in  the  Enghsh  House 
of  Commons."  An  eye-witness  who  had  heard  that 
famous  speech  tells  us  the  impression  that  it  produced 
upon  him.  "  It  seemed,"  he  says,  "as  if  I  were  smitten 
through  heart  and  brain  with  such  a  power  of  speech 
as  was  never  heard  before  except  from  the  great 
Demosthenes." 

At  the  conclusion  of  that  marvellous  oration  men 


I40  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

shook  hands  with  one  another  in  an  ecstasy  of  delight, 
threw  up  their  caps  high  into  the  air,  and  thundered 
forth  such  cheers  and  applause  as  shook  the  very 
walls  of  DubUn  Castle  to  its  foundation.  Dreading 
the  effect  on  the  public  mind,  the  English  Government 
ignominiously  surrendered  and  granted  an  independ- 
ent Parliament  to  Ireland. 

What  wonder,  therefore,  that  the  famous  Irish  poet, 
Thomas  Davis,  says:  "The  speeches  of  Grattan  are 
the  finest  specimens  of  imaginative  eloquence  in  the 
EngUsh  or  in  any  language.  His  force  and  vehemence 
are  amazing — far  beyond  Chatham,  far  beyond  Fox, 
far  beyond  any  orator  we  can  recall!"  Even  the 
great  English  poet.  Lord  Byron,  said  that  Grattan 
was — 

,      "With  all  that  Demosthenes  wanted  endowed 
And  his  rival  or  master  in  all  he  possessed." 

Nevertheless,  taking  everything  into  consideration, 
we  must  conclude  that  the  king  of  all  Irish  orators  was 
the  great  Irish  emancipator,  Daniel  O'Connell.  In 
many  respects  he  towered  far  above  all  the  other  Irish 
leaders  before  and  since  his  time.  In  striking  con- 
trast with  the  physical  infirmity  of  Grattan,  O'Connell 
was  a  man  of  herculean  frame  and  commanding 
presence;  the  Hght  of  genius  was  in  his  eyes;  and  he 
had  a  voice  of  immense  power,  sweetness,  and  variety 
of  tone.  Even  the  English  Premier,  Disraeh,  declared 
that  he  never  heard  any  voice  that  could  compare 
with  the  thrilling  tones  of  O'Connell."     Endowed, 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  141 

moreover  with  an  extraordinary  intellect,  he  seemed 
destined  by  nature  to  be  a  bom-orator  and  a  bom 
leader  of  men.  It  was  only  a  man  of  such  marvellous 
powers  that  could  win  for  his  people  from  a  tyran- 
nical English  Government  the  precious  boon  of 
Emancipation. 

What  wonder  that  hjs  grateful  coimtrymen  style 
him  the  '^Liberator,"  the  *' Father  of  his  Country," 
and  the  ' '  Uncrowned  King  of  Ireland  " !  What  wonder 
that  the  great  Irish  Dominican  preacher,  Father 
Burke,  gave  him  the  appellation  of  "Ireland's  greatest 
son  "  1  What  wonder  that  he  is  recognized  in  history 
as  one  of  the  seven  greatest  orators  that  the  world  has 
ever  seen!  What  has  England  to  compare  with  the 
matchless  genius  of  Daniel  O'Connell? 

There  is  only  one  department  of  Hterature  in  which 
the  English  surpass  the  Irish.  That  is  in  the  pro\dnce 
of  fiction.  The  English  authors,  Dickens  and 
Thackery,  are  still  the  kings  of  modem  novelists. 
Why  the  Irish  have  not  been  as  successful  in  fiction 
as  in  other  departments  of  literature  it  is  difficult  to 
determine,  -mless  the  reason  is  that  fiction  means 
falsehood,  and  the  Irish  love  the  truth  too  well  to 
invent  a  falsehood  even  for  the  sake  of  afterwards 
drawing  a  moral  from  it. 

Nevertheless,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that 
''Gulliver's  Travels,"  which  was  written  by  the  Irish- 
man, Dean  Swift,  was  the  forerunner  of  our  modem 
novel.  It  must  be  admitted,  too,  that  to  another 
Irishman,  Oliver  Goldsmith,  belongs  the  great  merit 
of  purifying  the  novel  and  raising  it  above  the  sensual 


142  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

and  obscene.  He  was  also  the  author  of  "The  Vicar 
of  Wakefield,"  one  of  the  very  best  novels  in  the  Eng- 
lish language.  But  the  greatest  of  all  the  Irish 
novelists  was  Gerald  GriSin,  the  author  of  "The 
Collegians,"  and  "The  Rivals,"  which  are  master- 
pieces in  the  field  of  fiction  and  hold  the  very  first  rank 
among  novels  even  to  the  present  day. 

In  more  recent  times,  Hkewise,  our  Irish  and  Irish- 
American  writers  have  produced  some  very  creditable 
novels.  "When  We  W^ere  Boys,"  composed  by 
William  O'Brien,  M.  P.,  would  be  indeed  an  excellent 
description  of  Irish  life  thirty  years  ago,  did  it  not  con- 
tain a  certain  absiu-d  and  inexplicable  hostility  to  the 
clergy  of  Ireland,  who  are  stigmatized  unjustly  as  the 
opponents  of  every  national  movement  for  the  freedom 
of  their  native  land.  Yet  it  is  a  historical  fact  that  it 
was  an  Irish  priest.  Father  Murphy,  that  led  on  his 
countrymen  against  the  veteran  troops  of  England 
at  the  Battle  of  Vinegar  Hill,  in  1798;  and  the  Irish 
priests  have  always  seconded  every  Irish  organization 
in  which  they  could  see  any  hope  of  Irish  inde- 
pendence; though  of  course  they,  like  good  shepherds, 
they  sometimes  warned  their  flocks  against  certain  ill- 
planned  and  ill-advised  attempts  at  insurrection 
which  they  foresaw  only  too  clearly  would  end  in 
disaster. 

Another  great  Irish  author,  who  has  lately  won  re- 
nown as  a  novelist,  is  the  well-known  Irish  priest, 
Father  Sheehan.  His  beautiful  novel,  "My  New 
Curate,"  is  certainly  a  gem  that  has  already  secured 
a  very  high  place  in  literature  and  will  always  be  read 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXO.Y  143 

with  pleasure  not  only  by  the  clergy  but  also  by  the 
laity.  But  probably  no  Catholic  novel  that  has  ever 
been  written  surpasses  ''Lalor's  Maples,"  which  has 
recently  been  written  by  that  talented  lady  who  is  the 
Assistant  Editor  of  the  Boston  Pilot,  Miss  Catharine 
Conway.  It  was  certainly  a  much-needed  book  and 
ought  to  do  an  untold  amount  of  good  among  Irish- 
American  Catholics. 

Nevertheless,  when  we  compare  the  novels  of  Irish 
and  English  authors,  we  see  at  a  glance  that  fiction  is 
not  at  all  the  proper  sphere  of  the  Celtic  race.  The 
principal  part  of  a  novel  consists  in  weaving  a  clever 
plot;  but  at  that  the  Irish  have  never  been  very  success- 
ful. They  are  too  honest  and  straightforward  to  plot. 
That  is  why  the  novel  of  an  Irish  author  is  as  tame  as 
a  Sunday-School  story  in  comparison  with  the  thrilling 
plot  of  an  English  novelist.  It  requires  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  to  invent  a  plausible  story  or  to  concoct  a  skilful 
plot.  At  that  our  English  cousins  are  perfectly  as 
home.     This  explains  why  they  are  clever  novelists. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Celtic   and    Saxon    Music   and    Poetry. 

IN  all  the  vast  realms  of  science  and  art  there  is  no 
more  beautiful  accomplishment  than  proficiency 
in  music  and  poetry.    There  is  no  better  test 
of  true  genius,  no  surer  mark  of  a  lofty  state  of  civiHza- 
tion. 

The  Irish  have  always  been  an  exceedingly  musica 
people.  The  Celtic  harp  is  the  most  ancient  form  of 
musical  instrument  now  in  existence;  and  we  can 
judge  of  its  perfection  from  the  fact  that  after  the 
lapse  of  centuries  it  still  survives  to  the  present  day, 
just  like 

"The  harp  that  once  through  Tara's  Halls 
The  soul  of  music  shed." 

How  strange  that  our  English  cousins  have  no  musical 
instrument  that  has  been  handed  down  to  them  by 
their  ancestors!  Is  not  this  a  clear  indication  that 
the  musical  talent  of  the  early  Anglo-Saxons  was  far 
inferior  to  that  of  our  Irish  forefathers? 

It  is  true,  indeed,  that  neither  Ireland  nor  England 
can  boast  of  any  great  musical  composers  like  those 
of  Germany,  Italy,  or  Austria.  Germany  has  her 
Beethoven,  Wagner,  and  Mendelssohn;  Italy  her 
Verdi  and  Paganini,  Austria  her  Mozart  and  Haydn. 
These  are  the  names  of  the  immortal  geniuses  that  we 


'  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  145 

naturally  think  of  when  we  speak  of  musical  com- 
posers; and  we  seek  in  vain  for  their  compeers  in  the 
British  Isles.  Poor  Ireland  has  some  excuse  for  not 
producing  musical  geniuses  like  these;  for  what  in- 
spiration did  Erin  have  to  expand  her  musical  soul 
during  the  last  seven  centuries  of  EngHsh  tyranny 
and  oppression?  As  the  Hebrew  exiles  hung  their 
harps  on  the  willows  of  Babylon,  saying:  ''We  cannot 
sing  in  a  strange  land,"  so  the  children  of  Erm  could 
not  be  expected  to  produce  grand  soul-stirring  musical 
compositions  in  chains  and  slavery.  But  England 
has  no  such  excuse;  and  yet  she  has  never  given  birth 
to  a  musical  composer  who  has  acquired  even  a 
national,  not  to  speak  at  all  of  a  world-wide 
reputation. 

However,  in  the  field  of  poetry  neither  England  nor 
any  other  country  in  the  world  can  compare  with 
Ireland.  As  the  late  lamented  Abbe  Hogan,  President 
of  our  Boston  Ecclesiastical  Seminary,  was  accus- 
tomed to  say:  "Every  Irishman  is  a  poet;  for  he  has 
that  lofty  flight  of  the  imagination  which  constitutes 
the  first  essential  of  the  true  poet."  Indeed,  history 
confirms  this;  for  in  no  other  country  on  the  face  of 
the  earth  was  the  art  of  poetry  so  cultivated  as  in 
ancient  Ireland.  There  alone  it  w^as  reduced  to  a 
science  and  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  learned  pro- 
fessions. 

Who  has  not  heard  of  the  ancient  bards  or  poets  of 
Ireland?  Whole  volumes  have  been  written  about 
them.  Their  poetical  compositions  were  not  like  the 
hap-hazard  doggerels  written  by  certain  individuals, 


146  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

who  imagine  that  they  are  poets  at  the  presert  day; 
the  bards  had  to  study  the  art  of  poetry  for  twelve 
long  years  before  they  were  permitted  to  afflict  the 
public  with  their  poetic  strains. 

What  wonder  that  there  were  great  poets  in  Ireland 
in  these  days!  In  spite  of  all  the  ravages  of  the  Danes 
and  the  English,  certain  very  ancient  specimens  of 
their  poetry  have  come  down  to  us  through  the  mists 
of  ages  and  give  us  some  idea  of  the  poetic  fire  which 
burned  in  the  hearts  of  our  ancestors  twenty-three 
centuries  ago.  We  may  talk  of  the  beauties  of  the 
great  Greek  and  Latin  poets — Homer,  Euripides, 
Virgil,  and  Horace;  but  how  many  Irish  or  Irish- 
Americans  ever  heard  of  the  great  Homer  of  Ireland  ? 
His  very  name  will  sound  strange  and  unfamiUar 
to  them. 

The  greatest  of  all  of  Ireland's  ancient  poets  was 
the  celebrated  Ossian  who  flourished  about  the  third 
century  of  the  Christian  era,  nearly  two  hundred  years 
before  St.  Patrick  landed  in  Ireland.  A  few  frag- 
ments of  his  poems  are  still  preserved  in  Trinity 
College,  DubHn;  but  even  these  are  sufficient  to  put 
him  on  a  par  with  the  author  of  the  IHad  and  the 
Odyssey;  for  in  point  of  grandeur  and  flowers  of 
rhetoric  they  excel  almost  everything  that  has  come 
down  to  us  from  these  early  ages.  Like  the  English 
poet,  Milton,  this  great  Irish  bard  became  bhnd  in  his 
old  age;  and  in  the  following  beautiful  apostrophe  to 
the  sun  sadly  laments  his  loss  of  sight.  Though  the 
translation  is  but  a  faint  echo  of  the  original,  it  will 
give  us  some  idea  of  his  poetic  genius: 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  147 

"Oh,  thou  that  revolvest  above,  circular  as  the 
shield  of  my  fathers!  Whence  are  thy  beams  Oh, 
Sun,  thou  everlasting  Hght?  Thou  comest  forth  in 
thine  awful  beauty  and  the  stars  hide  themselves  in 
the  sky;  the  moon,  cold  and  pale,  sinks  in  the  western 
wave,  but  thou,  thyself,  mo  vest  alone.  Who  can  be 
the  companion  of  thy  course  ?  The  oaks  of  the  moun- 
tains fall,  the  mountains  themselves  decay  with  years, 
the  ocean  shrinks  and  grows  again;  the  moon  itself  is 
lost  in  heaven;  but  thou  art  forever  the  same,  rejoicing 
in  the  brightness  of  thy  course.  When  the  world  is 
dark  with  tempest,  when  thunder  rolls  and  lightning 
flies,  thou  lookest  in  thy  beauty  from  the  clouds  and 
laughest  at  the  storm.  But  to  Ossian  thou  lookest 
in  vain — for  he  beholds  thy  beams  no  more — whether 
thy  yellow  hairs  flow  on  the  eastern  clouds,  or  thou 
tremblest  at  the  gates  of  the  west.  But  thou  art,  per- 
haps, Hke  me  for  a  season,  and  thy  years  vdll  have  an 
end.  Thou  shalt  sleep  in  thy  clouds,  careless  of  the 
voice  of  the  morning.  Exult  then,  O  Sun,  in  the 
strength  of  thy  youth.  Age  is  dark  and  unlovely.  It 
is  Hke  the  glimmering  of  the  moon  when  it  shines 
through  broken  clouds,  and  the  mist  is  on  the  hills; 
the  blast  of  the  north  is  on  the  plain;  the  traveller 
sinks  in  the  midst  of  his  journey." 

What  has  England  to  compare  with  this  great  an- 
cient Irish  bard?  Absolutely  nothing.  The  En- 
cyclopaedia Britannica  sadly  informs  us  that  before 
the  introduction  of  Christianity,  "  hterature  either  had 
no  existence  or  was  in  a  state  not  less  elementary,  con- 
sisting of  a  few  songs  and  oracles,  and  nothing  more." 


148  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

It  is  indeed  a  great  relief  to  turn  from  the  barren 
Anglo-Saxon  desert  to  the  rich  and  fertile  fields  of 
Irish  poetry.  Not  only  has  Ireland  had  her  Homer 
but  her  Virgil  also.  Just  before  the  conversion  of 
Erin  by  St.  Patrick,  a  certain  enterprising  Irishman 
by  the  name  of  Shiel  travelled  to  Italy  to  study  philos- 
ophy and  poetry.  There  his  name  was  latinized  into 
Sedulius  and  he  afterguards  became  such  a  celebrated 
poet  that  he  is  called  to  this  day  the  Christian  Virgil; 
because  he  modelled  his  poetry  on  the  heroic  metre 
of  that  great  Latin  poet.  His  principal  work  was  the 
Carmen  Paschale,  which  is  a  sort  of  poetical  version 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  written  in  all  the 
grace  and  elegance  of  diction  of  which  only  Virgil 
himself  was  thought  capable. 

There  is  only  one  thing  to  be  regretted,  it  is  that 
Sedulius  did  not  write  his  poetic  works  in  his  native 
Irish  tongue  instead  of  Latin.  However,  perhaps  it 
may  be  all  the  better  in  the  end,  for  it  is  this  which  has 
made  the  name  of  Sedulius  immortal,  because  the 
Catholic  Church  has  incorporated  a  part  of  his  poetical 
writings  in  her  liturgy,  so  that  his  fame  will  live  as 
long  as  the  Church  will  last;  and  that  is  forever.  The 
Latin  hymn  ''Crudelis  H erodes  Deum,^'  which  w^e  sing 
at  Vespers  on  the  great  feast  of  the  Epiphany  is  taken 
from  the  poems  of  Sedulius;  so  Hkewise  the  Introit 
of  the  Mass  of  the  Blessed  Virgin — '^ Salve  Sancta 
Parens.''^ 

Yet  it  was  the  great  Saint  Patrick  himself  that 
transformed  the  whole  system  of  ancient  Irish  poetry 
and  changed  it  from  a  pagan  into  a  C)iristian  institu- 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  149 

tion.  Before  the  coming  of  our  national  apostle  the 
office  of  the  Irish  bard  was  to  sing  the  praises  of  his 
ancestors  and  to  chant  the  heroic  deeds  of  Irish  chief- 
tains on  the  field  of  battle.  St.  Patrick,  however,  was 
no  meddlesome  or  revolutionary  reformer.  Whatever 
was  good  in  Irish  civilization  he  retained  and  con- 
secrated to  the  service  of  God.  So  he  allowed  the 
Bards  to  retain  their  harps  and  sing  the  songs  of  Erin's 
heroic  youth  as  in  the  days  of  old.  But  the  great 
Saint  taught  them  to  tune  their  harps  to  loftier  strains 
than  those  of  the  royal  banquet-hall  or  the  battle-field. 
He  sought  to  banish  from  their  songs  the  pagan  spirit 
of  undying  hate  and  rancorous  vengeance,  to  impress 
the  poet's  mind  with  something  of  the  divine  spirit 
of  Christian  charity,  and  to  soften  the  fierce  melody 
of  his  war-songs  with  cadences  of  pity  for  a  fallen  foe. 
He  taught  the  sons  of  the  Bards  how  to  chant  the 
psahns  of  David  and  to  sing  together  the  sweet  music 
of  the  Church's  hymns. 

St.  Patrick  was  quick  to  see  how  passionately  fond 
of  music  our  ancestors  were.  Hence,  like  a  wise 
apostle,  he  prudently  employed  the  grand  musical 
strains  of  the  Church  to  attract  converts  to  the  true 
faith.  Everywhere  that  he  established  a  church  he 
made  provision  to  have  some  of  the  congregation 
trained  in  psahnody.  Accordingly,  in  the  biography 
of  our  national  saint  we  read  that  "his  choir-master 
was  Benignus,  whose  duty  it  was  to  organize  the  choir 
and  conduct  the  musical  service." 

Instead,  therefore,  of  hampering  the  talents  of  our 
forefathers  and  checking  their  progress,  Christianity 


150  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

rather  ennobled  all  their  powers  and  developed  them 
to  their  fullest  extent.  Accordingly,  soon  after  the 
time  of  St.  Patrick,  Erin  gave  birth  to  a  most  remark- 
able man  who  was  one  of  the  best  specimens  of  the 
scholar,  the  saint,  and  the  poet  that  the  world  has  ever 
seen. 

This  was  the  great  Irish  missionary,  St.  Columba, 
or  Columbkille,who  was  born  in  the  county  of  Donegal, 
on  December  7,  A.  D.  521.  This  celebrated  man 
wrote  verses  not  only  in  his  own  native  tongue  but 
also  in  the  Latin  language.  Thirty-six  of  his  Gaelic 
poems  are  still  preserved  in  Oxford  University  and 
they  are  certainly  masterpieces.  To  be  fully  appre- 
ciated they  must  be  read  in  the  original;  they  lose  all 
their  beauty  when  translated  into  the  cold  Anglo- 
Saxon  tongue.  The  great  French  writer,  Montalem- 
bert,  tells  us  that  after  St.  Columbkille,  Ireland  pro- 
duced two  hundred  other  celebrated  poets  whose 
works  have  long  since  perished ;  but  we  must  now  once 
more  turn  our  attention  to  England  and  see  what 
poetical  works  she  produced  after  her  conversion  to 
Christianity. 

England  was  converted  to  the  Catholic  faith  in  the 
year  597,  A.  D.  Thus  she  received  all  that  was  grand 
noble,  and  sublime;  everything  in  brief  which  would 
cause  a  generous  heart  to  burst  forth  in  poetic  strains 
of  gratitude  to  God  for  all  His  inestimable  blessings. 
But  it  seems  that  the  mustard  seed  of  Christianity 
brought  into  England  fell  upon  very  barren  soil;  for 
it  took  her  over  a  hundred  years  to  produce  even  a 
single  Christian  poet.     The  first  English  Christian 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  151 

poet  was  a  man  called  Caedmon  who  is  supposed  to 
have  lived  during  the  seventh  century.  His  poetical 
works  consisted  of  a  mere  paraphrase  of  the  Pente- 
teuch  and  the  New  Testament.  Another  early  Eng- 
lish poet  was  Cynewulf  who  composed  a  poem  called 
Crist,  narrating  the  blessings  and  benefits  of  Christian- 
ity. Some  authors  claim  that  he  lived  during  the 
eighth,  others  in  the  eleventh  century;  but  it  does 
not  matter  much  as  the  names  of  both  poets  have 
long  since  sunk  into  oblivion. 

But  the  real  father  of  English  poetry  was  not  born 
for  nearly  eight  centuries  after  the  conversion  of 
England  to  the  Christian  religion.  This  was  the 
famous  Geoffrey  Chaucer,  who  was  born  in  London 
in  the  fourteenth  century.  Until  his  time  English 
was  looked  upon  as  a  rough  and  barbarous  dialect; 
but  by  imitating  the  literary  masterpieces  of  Itahan 
and  French  authors,  such  as  Dante,  Petrarch, 
Boccaccio,  and  Lorris,  he  so  poHshed  his  native  tongue 
that  it  was  henceforth  considered  one  of  the  refined 
languages  of  Europe.  His  chief  poetic  work  which  has 
survived  to  the  present  day  is  entitled  ''The  Canter- 
bury Tales";  but,  like  a  true  Englishman,  he  never 
gives  any  credit  to  the  authors  from  whom  he  borrowed 
much  of  his  hterary  material  and  style. 

After  the  death  of  Chaucer,  not  another  English 
poet  of  any  consequence  appeared  for  over  two  hun- 
dred years,  until  the  rise  of  Shakespeare  in  the  six- 
teenth century.  He  is  called  England's  national  poet 
and  is  lauded  as  one  of  the  three  greatest  poets  the 
world  has  ever  seen,  on  a  par  with  Homer  and  Virgil; 


BOSTON  COLLEGE 

FACULTY  LIBRARY 


152  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

but  his  title  to  that  dignity  rests  certainly  on  very 
dubious  credentials.  He  had  no  great  reputation  as 
a  poet  in  his  own  day;  nor  did  his  poetic  works  excite 
much  admiration.  Even  a  century  later,  during  the 
reign  of  Queen  Anne,  Shakespeare's  poems  were  en- 
tirely ignored  and  Pope  was  considered  England's 
national  poet. 

However,  the  fact  that  Pope  was  a  CathoUc  was  a 
most  serious  obstacle  to  his  permanent  retention  of 
that  honor.  The  English  nation  that  would  not 
tolerate  even  a  Catholic  king  on  the  throne  was  not 
likely  to  retain  very  long  a  Catholic  as  her  national 
poet.  Accordingly,  poor  Pope  was  soon  deposed 
from  his  lofty  pedestal  and  during  the  last  century 
a  great  wave  of  enthusiasm  has  swept  over  England 
in  favor  of  Shakespeare,  so  that  he  has  become  a  much 
overrated  poet.  He  has  bequeathed  to  us  only  seven 
short  poems  of  questionable  merit.  Only  two  of 
them,  "  The  Rape  of  Lucrece  "  and  "  Venus  and 
Adonis  "  are  ever  referred  to  as  exhibiting  any  poetic 
genius  above  the  ordinary.  But  even  they  are  far  from 
the  subhme;  for,  while  the  melody  is  certainly  beauti- 
ful, the  poems  themselves  are  very  sensuous.  Worse, 
still,  all  of  Shakespeare's  poetic  works  are  lacking  in 
originality ;  for  his  warmest  admirers  are  obliged  to 
acknowledge  that  he  borrowed  much  from  the  Itahan 
poets  Tasso  and  Ariosto. 

Instead  of  being  called  England's  national  poet,  he 
should  rather  be  styled  her  national  playwright.  His 
plays  are  five  times  more  numerous  than  his  poems. 
In  a  book  edited  by  William  Clark  containing  all  of 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  153 

Shakespeare's  works,  a  thousand  pages  are  devoted 
to  his  plays  and  only  fifty  four  to  his  poetry.  In 
reaHty,  it  is  Shakespeare's  plays  and  not  his  poems 
that  have  made  his  name  so  famous.  It  is  true  there 
is  a  great  deal  of  latent  poetry  in  his  comedies  and 
tragedies;  but  the  real  secret  of  his  popularity  with 
the  English  people  and  their  descendants  lies  in  his 
glorification  of  the  EngHsh  nation  in  all  his  dramas 
from  ''King  Henry  IV."  to  "King  Henry  VIII."  A 
little  flattery  exercises  great  influence  not  only  over 
individuals  but  even  nations;  and  nobody  knew  the 
art  better  than  Shakespeare;  but  when  another  EngUsh 
poet  will  arise  who  is  more  adroit  at  adulation,  then 
the  tide  of  popular  favor  will  recede  from  poor  Shake- 
speare; and  he  will  be  left  stranded  high  and  dry  upon 
the  rocks.  In  future  ages,  when  the  mists  of  national 
prejudice  will  have  melted  away,  he  may  not  even  be 
recognized  as  a  first-class  poet,  having  sunk  back  into 
the  obscurity  which  enveloped  him  in  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries. 

There  were  several  other  EngUsh  poets  as  great  as 
and  perhaps  greater  than  Shakespeare  ever  was. 
Though  Milton  usually  wrote  in  blank  verse  and  bor- 
rowed much  from  Dante,  his  "Paradise  Lost"  is  far 
more  majestic  and  sublime  than  anything  Shakespeare 
ever  composed.  So  likewise  there  is  nothing  in  all 
Shakespeare's  writings  that  can  compare  with  Byron's 
magnificent  poem,  "Childe  Harold,"  or  Tennyson's 
sublime  production,  "The  Holy  Grail."  But  for 
loftiness  of  thought  and  exquisite  beauty  the  very  best 
poem  of  Shakespeare  becomes  mere  dross  in  com- 


154  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

parison  with  Wordsworth's  noble  ''Ode  on  the  Inti- 
mations of  ImmortaUty,"  which  some  people  believe 
to  be  inspired  like  Holy  Scripture  itself. 

With  such  a  gallant  array  of  EngHsh  poets  we  should 
imagine  that  poor,  oppressed  Ireland  would  have 
nothing  to  compare.  Her  last  great  poet  who  sang 
in  his  native  tongue  was  St.  Columbkille,  who  died 
just  at  the  dawn  of  the  seventh  century.  Soon  after- 
wards, during  the  eighth  century,  the  Danes  began  to 
make  their  plundering  incursions  into  Ireland  and 
then  the  Irish  poet  had  to  cast  aside  his  harp  to  fight 
the  battles  of  his  country. 

"The  minstrel  boy  to  the  war  has  gone, 
In  the  ranks  of  death  you'll  find  him." 

Scarcely  had  Erin  recovered  from  the  depredations 
of  the  Danes  when  she  was  compelled  to  defend  her 
very  fife  against  another  enemy,  the  Anglo-Saxons 
and  the  Normans.  After  a  gallant  struggle  of  five 
hundred  years,  she  was  finally  overpowered  by  brute 
force  and  reduced  to  a  state  of  slavery.  In  such  cir- 
cumstances who  could  expect  her  to  pay  much  atten- 
tion to  poetry  and  the  fine  arts? 

''Thy  songs  were  made  for  the  pure  and  free 
They  shall  never  sound  in  slavery." 

Not  only  did  Ireland  lose  her  independence  but 
even  her  native  tongue ;  and  she  was  compelled  hence- 
forth to  express  her  thoughts  in  the  language  of  her 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  155 

conqueror.  When  we  consider  how  extremely  diffi- 
cult it  is  to  master  a  strange  tongue,  and  especially 
one  which  we  have  good  reason  to  dislike,  who  would 
imagine  that  generous,  warm-hearted  Erin  would  ever 
burst  forth  into  song  in  cold,  chilly  Anglo-Saxon? 

Yet,wonderful  to  say,  such  is  the  marvellous  versatil- 
ity of  the  Irish  that  they  have  actually  conquered  their 
conquerors  in  their  own  chosen  field,  not  only  of 
English  prose  but  of  English  poetry  also;  for  the  very 
grandest  poems  in  the  English  language  have  been 
composed  by  Irishmen.     Ireland  has  given  birth  to 
four  great  writers  of  English  poetry  who  far  surpass 
any  native-bom  Enghsh  poet  that  ever  Hved.     What 
has   England   to   compare   with    Oliver   Goldsmith, 
Gerald  Griffin,  Thomas  Davis,  and  Thomas  Moore? 
^  One  of  the  dearest  and  brightest  names  in  English 
literature  is  OUver  Goldsmith,  who  was  born  in  the 
County  of  Longford,  in  the  year  1728.     As  an  author 
he  stands  in  the  very  first  rank  of  Enghsh  poets. 
But  of  all  his  poetic  gems  the  finest,  most  poUshed  and 
most    precious    is    "The    Deserted    Village."    For 
tender  pathos,  simple,  charming,  Hfe-like  description, 
exquisite  harmony,  and  matchless  beauty  of  expression,, 
it  is  a  poem  perhaps  unequaUed  in  the  whole  range 
of  literature.    It  will  last  as  long  as  the  Enghsh 
language  exists  and  the  name  of  its  author  will  be 
forever  immortal.     As  Doctor  Johnson  said  of  him 
in  his  epitaph:  ''He  left  scarcely  any  style  of  writing 
untouched  and  he  touched  nothing  that  he  did  not 
adorn." 

Almost  equally  famous  as  a  poet  was  Gerald  Griffin, 


156  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

who  was  bom  in  the  city  of  Limerick  on  December 
12,  1803.  His  poetry  glows  with  all  the  fire  and 
feeling  of  youth  and  is  noted  for  its  pure  beauty, 
freshness,  and  originality.  His  poems  entitled  " The 
Queen  of  May"  and  ''The  Sister  of  Charity"  are 
among  the  very  finest  productions  in  the  English 
language. 

But  a  name  dearer  to  the  Irish  heart  than  either 
of  these  is  that  of  Thomas  Davis,  the  great  Irish 
patriot  poet  who  was  bom  in  Cork,  in  1814.  By  his 
thrilling  patriotic  songs  he  is  said  to  have  contributed 
almost  as  much  to  bring  about  CathoHc  Emancipation 
as  the  great  Daniel  O'Connell  himself.  It  was  his 
soul-stirring  poetry  that  created,  inspired,  and  moulded 
the  great  national  movement  which  rallied  all  the 
people  around  the  great  liberator  of  our  countr)Tnen 
and  made  him  simply  irresistible.  Hence  the  poems 
of  Davis  will  be  read  and  admired  as  long  as  there  is 
a  man  of  the  Irish  race  alive.  They  were  the  expres- 
sion of  his  own  manly  nature,  warm  heart,  and  lofty 
character.  They  came  from  the  heart  and  found 
their  way  to  the  heart;  for  they  have  the  true  ring 
which  finds  an  echo  in  every  soul  that  can  admire  the 
brave  and  the  beautiful.  What  Irish  heart  does  not 
throb  in  unison  with  his  immortal  verses:  "She  is  a 
rich  and  rare  land,"  ''A  nation  once  again,"  "The 
Green  above  the  Red,"  and  "On  Fontenoy,"  which 
is  recited  by  every  school-boy,  wherever  the  English 
tongue  is  spoken? 

Yet,  Ireland  has  another  poet  even  greater  than 
Davis,  the  immortal  Thomas  Moore,  who  was  bom 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  157 

in  Dublin,  on  May  28,  1779.  He  has  been  deservedly 
styled  "the  national  poet  of  Ireland,"  "the  poet  of 
all  circles,"  and  the  "sweet  son  of  song; "  for  it  is  safe 
to  say  that  no  other  country  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
ever  produced  a  poet  as  great  as  Thomas  Moore;  and 
England's  most  eminent  poets  are  only  second  class 
in  comparison  with  him.  This  is  the  opinion  not  only 
of  Irishmen  but  even  of  impartial  EngHshmen  and 
Scotchmen.  An  Enghsh  writer  by  the  name  of  Shaw, 
declares  that:  "In  the  quahty  of  a  national  Irish  lyrist, 
Moore  stands  absolutely  alone  and  unapproachable," 
and  Professor  Wilson  of  Scotland  says:  "Of  all  the 
song-writers  that  ever  warbled,  or  chanted,  or  sung, 
the  best  is  verily  none  other  than  Thomas 
Moore." 

Moore's  "Irish  Melodies"  are  the  grandest  poetical 
productions  that  have  ever  been  composed  in  any 
language.  That  man  must  indeed  be  a  soulless  clod 
of  earth  who  can  read  them  or  hear  them  sung  without 
feeUng  himself  aroused  to  admiration.  The  words 
are  exquisitely  beautiful,  the  calm  sweetness  of  the 
melody  touches  the  very  depths  of  the  soul,  and  when 
played,  the  music  strikes  the  ear  as  something  almost 
celestial;  so  that  the  Hstener  may  imagine  himself 
transported  amidst  the  choirs  of  angels  in  Paradise. 

The  poems  of  Pope,  who  was  really  England's 
greatest  poet  and  was  once  recognized  as  such,  are 
only  rhymed  eloquence  and  logic,  but  Moore's  mel- 
odies are  the  genuine  poetry.  As  our  late  Irish- 
American  poet,  John  Boyle  O'Reilly,  has  well 
said: 


IS8  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

"He  may  use  deduction  who  must  preach; 
He  may  praise  instruction  who  must  teach; 
But  the  poet  duly  does  his  part 
When  the  song  flows  truly  from  his  heart." 

It  is  thus  that  poetry  flowed  from  the  heart  of  Thomas 
Moore  Hke  the  sweet  notes  of  the  nightingale. 

Well,  therefore,  may  we  be  proud  of  the  glorious 
record  of  our  race  in  war  and  peace,  in  art,  science, 
literature,  music  and  poetry.  Yet  a  few  years  ago 
certain  weak-kneed  Irish  and  Irish-Americans  were 
actually  ashamed  of  their  Celtic  origin  and  language. 
This  was  during  the  dark  days  of  civil  dissensions 
within  the  Irish  Parliamentary  party.  But  since 
then  there  has  been  a  great  improvement  and  a  grand 
revival  of  the  ancient  Irish  tongue.  Now  the  Gaelic 
language  is  taught  not  only  in  the  national  schools  of 
Ireland  but  even  in  Harvard  College  and  the  Catholic 
University  of  America. 

This  is  certainly  a  most  gratifying  movement  in 
the  right  direction.  Yet  I  am  not  one  of  those  who 
advocate  the  complete  ehmination  of  English  from 
the  course  of  study  of  our  Irish  youth  and  the  substi- 
tution of  Irish  in  its  place.  In  the  present  state  of 
affairs  such  a  step  would  be  neither  wise  nor  practical. 
To  abolish  the  study  of  Enghsh  now  would  be  to 
throw  away  the  key  to  the  matchless  poems  of  Oliver 
Goldsmith,  Gerald  Griffin,  Thomas  Davis,  and 
Thomas  Moore.  Why  should  we  do  anything  as 
foolish  as  that  ?  Besides  we  know  how  useful  Eng 
lish  is  at  the  present  day  as  a  means  of  communication 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 


'59 


in  the  business  world.  Why  then  should  not  the  Irish 
take  advantage  of  the  opportunity  it  affords  them  in 
the  field  of  trade  and  commerce?  But,  above  all, 
I  really  believe  that  God  has  destined  the  Irish  for 
the  great  work  of  keeping  the  light  of  faith  burning 
brightly  everywhere  throughout  the  EngUsh-speaking 
world.  Hence  to  neglect  the  study  of  English  would 
be  to  prove  unfaithful  to  this  grand  vocation. 

Let  us  therefore  train  up  the  rising  generation  to 
love  and  cherish  the  noble  language  of  their  fore- 
fathers; but  at  the  same  time  let  them  not  neglect  the 
English  tongue  which  has  been  hallowed  and  ennobled 
by  the  immortal  Thomas  Moore.  Thus  they  will  be- 
come bilinguists  like  the  Germans  and  the  French, 
who  settle  in  the  United  States  and  teach  their  children 
not  only  the  language  of  the  country  but  also  the 
language  of  their  fathers.  It  would  also  be  an  ex- 
cellent undertaking  for  Irishmen  everywhere  through- 
out the  world  to  establish  Irish  Reading  Circles, 
Historical  Societies,  and  Archaeological  Associations, 
in  order  to  preserve  as  an  inestimable  treasure  the 
glorious  literature  that  has  come  down  to  us  from  our 
ancestors  and  to  hand  it  down  to  posterity  as  a 
precious  heirloom. 


Py4RT    in. 


CHAPTER  I. 

General  Characteristics  of  the  Celt  and  the 
Saxon. 

HAVING  compared  the  Celt  and  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  in  war  and  peace,  we  must  now  en- 
deavor to  draw  a  comparative  sketch  of  Irish 
and  English  character.  After  all,  it  is  not  so  much 
the  achievements  of  a  nation  in  war  and  peace  as  the 
lofty  character  of  its  citizens  that  determines  its 
superiority.     That  is  the  real  test. 

Though  all  men  are  descended  from  a  common 
father  and  mother,  Adam  and  Eve,  yet,  in  the  course 
of  ages,  all  the  various  nations  of  the  world  have 
developed  certain  characteristics  peculiar  to  them- 
selves. But  though  the  EngUsh  and  the  Irish  have 
for  so  many  centuries  lived  so  closely  together,  it 
would  be  almost  impossible  to  find  two  other  races 
that  differ  so  widely  in  character. 

It  seems  very  difficult  indeed  for  an  Irishman  and 
an  Englishman  to  understand  each  other  and  for  one 
to  do  justice  to  the  character  of  the  other ;  yet  even  the 
most  impartial  observers  can  see  at  a  glance  that  there 
is  in  the  Irish  character  something  far  more  grand, 
noble,  and  elevated  than  in  that  of  the  Anglo-Saxon. 
Though  their  enemies  frequently  depict  them  as  a 
low,  ignorant,  intemperate,  and  envious  race,  yet  even 
impartial  EngUshmen  themselves  acknowledge  that 
the  Irish  are  the  brightest,  the  wittiest,  the  most 


i64  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

generous,  the  most  warm-hearted,  the  most  moral, 
and  the  most  magnanimous  people  on  the  face  of  the 
earth. 

The  first  striking  characteristic  which  an  English- 
man usually  observes  in  an  Irishman  is  his  bright 
Celtic  wit;  and  yet  the  average  Engb'shman  has  only 
a  very  poor  idea  of  what  real,  genuine  Irish  wit  is. 
He  would  reduce  the  Irish  wit  to  the  level  of  the  jester 
or  clown,  with  his  fool's  cap  and  bells,  whose  business 
it  was  to  amuse  kings  and  nobles  during  the  middle 
ages  by  his  ludicrous  and  absurd  remarks.  Such  is 
the  Irishman  as  he  is  usually  presented  on  the  English 
stage  and  sometimes  on  the  American  in  imitation  of 
the  EngUsh.  His  wit  never  rises  beyond  that  ridicu- 
lous creation  of  the  English  imagination  which  is 
usually  called  an  ''Irish  Bull,"  generally  something 
exceedingly  foolish  and  nonsensical.  But  real  genuine 
Irish  wit  is  something  far  more  clever  and  intelligent 
than  this  fantastical  Anglo-Saxon  burlesque;  and  it 
is  high  time  that  this  travesty  upon  our  race  should  be 
hissed  from  the  stage. 

No  doubt  it  must  be  very  difficult  for  an  English- 
man to  get  a  true  conception  of  Irish  wit,  for  the  Eng- 
lish are  universally  recognized  as  a  dull,  cold,  caU 
culating,  and  unscrupulous  race,  whose  only  aim 
in  Hfe  is  to  seize  upon  their  neighbor's  property  and 
thus  amass  riches.  Though  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
the  Irish  are  a  somewhat  proud,  sensitive,  impulsive, 
and  improvident  race,  yet  with  all  their  faults,  who 
would  exchange  his  Irish  character  for  that  of  an. 
Englishman  ? 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  165 

How  can  we  explain  these  divergent  characteristics 
of  the  two  races  ?  It  is  a  nation's  history  that  furnishes 
us  with  a  key  to  its  national  character.  Just  as  a 
man's  daily  actions,  whether  good  or  bad,  make  a 
corresponding  impression  on  his  character,  so  very 
frequently  certain  events  in  the  history  of  a  nation 
stamp  upon  it  that  indelHble  national  character  which 
distinguishes  it  from  all  other  nations.  Without  a 
knowledge  of  these  historical  events  the  character  of 
the  people  in  the  nation  would  be  perfectly  unin- 
telligible. So  it  is  with  the  character  of  the  Irish  and 
the  English, 

Nothing  is  so  apt  to  ennoble  the  character  of  a  race 
as  a  constant  striving  after  some  great  and  lofty 
principle.  It  is  thus  that  the  character  of  the  Irish, 
naturally  good,  has  been  rendered  still  more  noble 
by  two  great  animating  principles,  the  one  religious, 
the  other  national  in  its  aim.  As  we  shall  observe 
still  more  clearly  in  the  following  chapter,  the  eminent 
character  of  the  Irish  is  mainly  due  to  their  fidelity 
to  the  Cathohc  religion.  The  morality  of  the  gospel 
is  the  grandest  and  most  subhme  that  the  world  has 
ever  seen.  He  who  is  faithful  to  it  must  not  only 
govern  his  actions  but  also  his  words  and  even  his 
very  thoughts.  He  must  love  even  his  greatest 
enemies.  We  can  readily  understand,  therefore,  what 
an  influence  such  a  reHgion  must  have  over  a  race 
naturally  so  magnanimous  as  the  Irish.  A  striking 
example  of  this  was  afforded  at  the  siege  of  Limerick 
by  King  William  of  Orange.  It  deserves  to  be  written 
in  letters  of  gold.     Once  during  the  siege  the  English 


i66  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

camp  caught  fire,  and  the  wounded  in  the  hospitals 
were  in  danger  of  perishing  in  the  flames;  but  the 
Irish,  forgetting  for  a  time  the  strife  of  conflict,  rushed 
into  the  burning  building  and  rescued  their  enemies 
from  a  most  frightful  death.  If  our  forefathers  were 
a  vindictive,  unforgiving  race  they  would  never 
have  acted  thus;  but  where  is  the  EngHshman  who 
would  have  treated  his  fallen  Irish  foe  so  magnan- 
imously ? 

Another  great  principle  which  contributed  much  to 
elevate  the  character  of  the  Irish  race  was  their  in- 
cessant struggle  for  Hberty  during  the  last  seven 
centuries.  Nothing  is  more  apt  to  develop  true 
patriotism,  unselfishness,  and  sense  of  honor  than  a 
grand  struggle  for  national  independence.  It  was  this 
which  produced  such  grand  characters  as  Em^mett, 
Grattan,  Daniel  O'Connell,  and  hundreds  of  other 
noble  Irish  patriots  who  suffered,  bled,  and  died  for 
their  country. 

Strange  to  say,  this,  too,  explains  the  defects  in  the 
character  of  the  Irish,  such  as  their  intem^perance, 
which  the  English  are  so  fond  of  putting  imder  a 
magnifying  glass  and  examining  under  the  glare  of 
a  Hme  light,  so  that  it  may  appear  as  hideous  as  pos- 
sible ;  while  at  the  same  time  hiding  their  own  skeleton 
in  the  closet. 

But  how  many  Englishmen  ever  reflect  that  England 
herself  is  responsible  for  this  intemperance  of  the 
Irish?  Our  Celtic  ancestors  were  a  very  temperate 
people  before  the  English  landed  on  their  shores. 
In  the  time  of  St.  Patrick  drunkenness  was  unknown 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  167 

amongst  them.  In  all  his  writings  the  great  apostle 
does  not  refer  even  once  to  Irish  intemperance. 

It  was  only  after  they  lost  their  independence  that 
this  vice  broke  out  among  the  Irish  people;  and  when 
we  take  into  consideration  all  that  they  suffered  from 
English  tyranny  during  the  last  seven  hundred  years, 
can  we  be  astonished  that  they  turned  to  drink? 
Everyone  who  knows  human  nature  is  aware  how 
prone  men,  and  even  Englishmen  are  to  drown  their 
sorrows  in  the  wine  cup.  So,  when  we  consider  that 
England  has  not  only  stolen  their  country's  independ- 
ence, but  even  robbed  them  again  and  again  of  all 
that  they  possessed;  when  we  reflect  that  she  has 
banished  their  bravest  and  best  into  exile  in  a  foreign 
land,  and  that  she  has  broken  the  heart  of  many  a 
a  father  and  mother  by  casting  their  noble  son  into 
prison  or  causing  him  to  die  a  shameful  death  upon 
the  scaffold  for  no  other  crime  than  that  of  loving  his 
country,  is  it  any  wonder  that  the  Irish  in  despondency 
have  contracted  the  habit  of  intoxication?  A  less 
noble  and  courageous  race  would  have  sought  reHef 
from  all  their  troubles  in  the  suicide's  grave.  Yet, 
to  the  honor  of  Ireland,  her  rate  of  suicides  is  only 
one  fourth  that  of  England,  for  an  equal  num.ber  of 
people. 

History  has  likewise  left  its  deep  impress  upon  the 
character  of  the  Anglo-Saxon;  and  without  the  light 
of  English  history  it  would  be  utterly  impossible  to 
understand  the  English  character.  To  give  the  Eng- 
lish their  due,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  they  are  an 
intelligent,  enterprising,  energetic,  and  thrifty  race. 


i68  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

England  has  produced  many  noble-minded  men  and 
women  who  were  a  credit  to  their  country  and  several 
of  them  have  been  canonized  by  the  CathoHc  Church 
as  men  of  unblemished  character  and  saints  of  God. 
It  would  be  very  difficult  indeed  to  point  out  in  the 
pages  of  history  a  grander  character  than  Sir  Thomas 
More,  Bishop  Fisher,  and  the  late  Cardinal 
Newman. 

But  these  were  only  individuals.  We  are  now  deal- 
ing only  with  the  English  national  character  and  we 
have  seen  already  how  the  EngHsh  were  a  nation  of 
robbers  from  the  earhest  times.  So,  we  regret  to  say, 
they  have  retained  all  the  characteristics  of  the  robber 
even  to  the  present  day.  We  sometimes  find  a  snob- 
bish American  aping  the  characteristics  of  the  English; 
but  how  Httle  they  realize  that  by  acting  thus  they  are 
only  copying  the  traits  of  a  robber,  who  has  not  even 
yet  reformed  from  his  misdeeds! 

Even  the  robber  has  many  remarkable  character- 
istics which  ehcit,  if  not  oiu:  admiration,  at  least  our 
amazement.  The  robber  is  bold  and  courageous; 
for  a  faint-hearted  man  would  never  be  able  to  over- 
power his  victim  and  plunder  him  of  all  his  posses- 
sions. The  robber  is  also  cool  and  calculating;  for 
a  hot-headed,  excitable  man  would  never  make  a 
successful  plunderer.  The  burglar  must  also  be  en- 
terprising, vigilant,  and  wide-awake  to  observe  his 
neighbor's  property  and  to  watch  night  and  day  for 
the  best  opportunity  to  seize  upon  it.  But  above  all 
things  the  plunderer  must  possess  in  an  extraordinary 
degree  the  faculty  of  cunning,  to  enable  him  to  lay 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  169 

his  plans  successfully  and  to  cover  up  the  tracks  of 
his  plundering  enterprises. 

But  are  not  all  these  characteristics  strikingly  Eng- 
lish, you  know?  No  one  can  deny  that  the  EngUsh 
are  bold  and  courageous,  especially  before  the  weak 
and  powerless,  though  very  civil  and  courteous  to  the 
strong  and  powerful.  Even  English  writers  them- 
selves confess  this.  The  great  EngHsh  writer 
Thackeray,  in  his  Irish  Sketch  Book,  Chapters  IX 
and  X,  tells  us  of  a  certain  EngHsh  bully  who  went 
over  to  Ireland  in  his  own  day  and  tried  to  bulldoze 
the  natives,  so  that  his  conduct  became  disgusting 
even  to  his  country-men.  On  the  other  hand  he 
highly  praises  the  Irishman  as  a  true  gentleman; 
and  his  only  wonder  is  that  he  could  have  so  much 
patience  and  forbearance  with  the  rude,  vulgar, 
insolent,  English  braggart. 

In  his  Paris  Sketch  Book,  page  10,  Thackeray 
develops  still  more  fully  the  character  of  the  "English 
gentleman."  "Believe  me,"  he  says,  "there  is  not  on 
the  face  of  the  earth  a  scamp  Uke  an  EngHsh  one,  no 
blackguard  like  one  of  these  half-gentlemen,  so  mean, 
so  low,  so  vulgar — so  ludicrously  ignorant  and  con- 
ceited, so  desperately  heartless  and  depraved."  If 
an  Irishman  under  the  British  flag  had  painted  the 
EngHsh  character  half  as  dark  as  that  he  would  be 
sent  into  exile  for  Hfe. 

In  bright  contrast  to  this  sombre  picture,  the  same 
author  relates  how  hospitably  himself,  though  a  per- 
fect stranger  and  an  EngHshman,  was  received  in 
Ireland,  so  that  a  Dublin  lawyer  left  his  office  and  a 


I70  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

literary  man  his  books  in  order  to  show  him  the  city;. 

and  he  exclaims  in  astonishment:  *' Would  a  London 
man  leave  his  business  to  trudge  to  the  Tower  or  to 
the  Park  with  a  stranger?" 

Another  boasted  characteristic  of  the  EngUsh  is 
their  proverbial  coolness.  They  are  wonderfully  cool- 
headed  indeed  in  all  their  spoliations.  It  is  high  time 
that  they  should  be  after  fifteen  centuries  of  freeboot- 
ing  on  land  and  sea.  Their  latest  exhibition  of  cool- 
ness was  displayed  in  robbing  the  poor  Boer  farmers 
of  their  diamond  fields  and  their  country.  That  was 
the  most  remarkable  specimen  of  coolness  recorded 
in  history  since  Achab  and  Jezabel  conspired  to  rob 
Naboth  of  his  vineyard  and  inheritance.  No  doubt 
there  were  in  England  a  great  many  upright,  honest 
men  who  disapproved  of  this  thievery,  but  their  voice 
was  lost  in  the  national  din  of  robbers.  Certainly 
Ireland  can  show  no  record  of  Celtic  coolness  to  com- 
pare with  this.  In  this  respect  the  English  easily 
carry  off  the  palm. 

The  Anglo-Saxon  is  Hkewise  very  vigilant  and 
knows  exactly  the  best  time  to  seize  his  neighbor's 
property,  when  his  attention  is  engaged  elsewhere  or 
distracted  by  civil  dissensions.  It  was  thus  that 
England  seized  upon  Ireland,  India,  and  Canada. 
Indeed  from  time  immemorial  England  has  main- 
tained in  her  secret  service  a  band  of  spies  in  every 
country  of  Europe  and  America  so  that  she  may  know 
everything  transpiring  in  these  regions  which  she  may 
turn  to  her  own  advantage. 

But  where  the  EngHsh  surpass  all  other  nations  is 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  lyi 

in  a  certain  low  cunning  peculiar  to  the  robber.  The 
honest  man  never  has  recourse  to  this  base  trickery, 
because  he  has  no  need  of  it.  It  is  only  the  dishonest 
that  require  it  to  cover  up  their  crooked  ways. 
This  explains  why  the  Irish  are  naturall}-  so  credulous, 
because  being  thoroughly  honest  themselves  they  ex- 
pect all  others  to  be  hke  them. 

But  the  English  are  just  the  opposite,  and  wherever 
they  cannot  succeed  by  the  strength  of  the  Hon  they 
have  recourse  to  the  cunning  of  the  fox.  Their  motto 
has  ever  been:  ''Divide  and  conquer."  It  was  thus 
that  Queen  EHzabeth  vanquished  Ireland  by  sowing 
civil  dissensions  among  the  Irish  chieftains. 

Even  in  this  country,  which  is  supposed  to  be  so 
enlightened,  it  is  remarkable  what  a  great  influence 
English  cunning  exercises  over  our  American  states- 
men. An  Enghsh  diplomat  has  only  to  speak  of 
"our  common  Anglo-Saxon  blood,"  ''our  common 
Anglo-Saxon  language  and  literature,"  "our  common 
Enghsh  bible,"  and  "the  immortal  Shakespeare," 
when  straightvi^ay  all  our  Anglo-Maniacs  fall  at  the 
feet  of  England  and  shed  tears  of  regret  because  the 
War  of  the  Revolution  ever  took  place.  It  is  simply 
astonishing  how  with  all  their  intelligence  the  people 
of  the  United  States  can  be  so  easily  cajoled.  Every- 
body knows  how  Enghsh  flattery  came  very  near 
dragging  the  United  States  into  an  aUiance  with 
"Mother  England."  In  fact  it  might  have  succeeded 
but  for  the  Irish  patriot,  Michael  Davitt.  It  is  also 
well  known  what  a  vast  influence  the  Enghsh  states- 
man, Joseph  Chamberlain,  has  during  the  past  decade 


< 


ijt  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

exercised  over  the  foreign  policy  of  the  United  States. 
There  is  very  little  doubt  that  it  was  he  who  drew  the 
United  States  into  war  with  Spain  and  induced  her 
to  seize  upon  the  Philippine  Islands,  in  order  that  she 
might  be  a  counterpoise  in  the  East  against  Russia 
and  also  give  England  a  free  hand  to  seize  upon  the 
Transvaal,  with  all  its  rich  diamond  fields.  Once 
having  embarked  on  the  business  of  spoliation  the 
United  States  lost  all  her  moral  influence  and  forfeited 
all  right  to  raise  her  voice  in  defence  of  her  sister  re- 
publics in  South  Africa ;  because  then  England  might 
retort:  "See  what  you  yourself  are  doing  in  the  Philip- 
pines! Those  who  live  in  glass  houses  must  not  throw 
stones."  Thus  Secretary  of  State  Hay,  who  pretends 
to  be  the  greatest  diplomatist  in  the  world,  has  beea 
really  only  the  cat's  paw  of  England,  just  as  Japan  vi 
her  cat's-paw  now  in  the  East  against  Russia. 

Yet  Chamberlain  who  thus  cajoled  the  United 
States  is  really  her  worst  enemy;  and  is  now  striving 
by  building  up  a  tariff  wall  to  make  Canada  a  danger- 
ous rival  of  this  country.  Verily  these  English  are 
exceedingly  cunning  knaves'. 

Nobody  should  find  fault  with  people  for  possessing 
a  certain  amount  of  shrewdness  and  circumspectio*. 
Even  the  Bible  itself  recommends  prudence,  telling 
us  to  be  "wise  as  serpents."  But  it  likewise  instructs 
us  to  be  "harmless  as  doves."  The  Irish  may  be 
"harmless  as  doves"  but  they  certainly  are  not  "wise 
as  serpents";  and  it  would  do  them  no  harm  at  all 
to  have  a  little  more  wordly  wisdom.  On  the  other 
hand,   the  English  may  be  "wise   as   serpents"  but 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  if^ 

they  are  not  by  any  means  "hannlcss  as  doves." 
As  we  shall  see  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  their  wisdoai 
consists  of  a  low,  mean,  unprincipled  cunning.  The 
English  are  the  most  unscrupulous  people  in  the 
world.  They  will  stop  at  nothing  to  accomplish 
their  designs.  Their  history  is  one  continual  talc  of 
perfidy,  hypocrisy,  treachery,  conspiracy,  robbery, 
and  even  murder  of  the  innocent. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Irish  and  English  Morality. 

HERE  the  word  morality  is  not  at  all  confined 
to  its  restricted  sense  as  the  equivalent  of 
chastity  or  social  purity  but  is  employed  in 
its  broadest  signification  as  a  synonym  for  virtue  in 
general.  It  should  be  well  understood  that  virtue 
does  not  mean  merely  a  certain  outward  veneer  or 
poliL,h  such  as  frequently  passes  for  respectability 
among  the  so-called  ''good  society,"  at  the  present 
day.  All  that  "good  society"  is  concerned  about  is 
a  fair  exterior.  As  long  as  a  man  dresses  well,  is 
polite,  does  not  smoke,  chew,  or  drink,  nor  do  any- 
thing that  shocks  the  community  he  is  looked  upon  as 
a  good  respectable  man,  though  inwardly  his  heart 
may  be  full  of  corruption  and  in  reality  he  is  only  a 
whitened  sepulchre. 

But  the  Catholic  Church  has  never  recognized  such 
a  standard  of  morality  for  her  children.  After  the 
example  of  the  Savior,  she  insists  on  regulating  the 
whole  man — his  actions,  his  words,  and  even  his  very 
thoughts.  The  true  Catholic  must  not  only  act 
rightly  but  also  talk  rightly,  and  even  think  rightly. 
He  must  not  single  out  one  or  two  of  the  ten  command- 
ments of  God  and  say:  *'  I  pay  my  debts,  and  I  never 
tell  a  lie";  whilst  at  the  same  time  neglecting  entirely 
the  other  eight  commandments  of  the  decalogue;  but 
he  must  carefully  observe  each  and  every  one  of  the 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  175 

commandments.  Moreover,  there  must  be  no  cant, 
no  duplicity,  no  hypocrisy,  no  game  of  Dr.  Jekyll 
and  Mr.  Hyde;  but  he  must  be  thoroughly  and  sin- 
cerely honest  in  his  whole  heart  and  soul. 

According  to  this  standard  of  morality,  there  is  no 
doubt  whatever  that  the  Irish  are  a  far  more  moral 
people  than  the  English.  We  do  not  make  this  claim 
on  the  testimony  of  Irish  authorities;  for  then  it  would 
be  a  case  of  a  lawyer  pleading  his  own  cause;  but  all 
our  proof  is  based  on  the  unwilUng  evidence  of  Eng- 
lishmen themselves,  who  could  not  deny  the  plain 
truth. 

However,  it  is  not  at  all  our  desire  to  depict  every 
Irishman  as  a  regular  St.  Aloysius  and  to  paint  every 
Englishman  as  black  as  Lucifer;  because  everybody 
knows  that  the  Irish  as  well  as  the  EngUsh  have  their 
faults;  and  that  many  EngUshmen  have  noble  traits 
like  the  Irish.  Yet,  until  quite  recently,  the  average 
Englishman  regarded  the  Irish  as  a  ver}^  turbulent 
and  criminal  race.  The  British  newspapers  con- 
tinually referred  to  them  as  ''The  Wild  Irish";  be- 
cause, being  a  brave,  patriotic  people,  they  would  not 
willingly  submit  to  be  exploited  by  the  English  for 
their  own  selfish  purposes. 

Even  in  this  country,  "the  land  of  the  free  and  the 
home  of  the  brave,"  many  prejudices  existed  in  cer- 
tain quarters  against  the  Irish  until  a  few  years  ago. 
During  the  recent  ante-Cathohc  agitation,  one  of  the 
questions  asked  in  the  A.  P.  A.  catechism  which  was 
published  by  bigots  was:  "Who  fills  our  prisons  ?  "  and 
the  answer  was,  "The  Roman  Catholic  Irish." 


iy6  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

But  little  by  little  the  light  of  truth  began  to  dawn 
upon  the  minds  of  our  non-CathoHc  brethren.  The 
late  great  English  statesman,  Mr.  Gladstone,  de- 
servedly called  ''the  Grand  Old  Man,"  though  at 
first  the  deadly  enemy  of  the  Irish,  was  gradually 
forced  to  recognize  their  sterling  virtues,  and  no  doubt, 
did  much  to  open  the  eyes  of  his  countrymen  to  their 
real  character.  The  last  years  of  his  life  especially 
may  be  well  called  the  era  of  good  feeUng  and  con- 
ciliation; for  he  introduced  into  Parliament  a  bill 
which  sooner  or  later  is  destined  to  give  Home  Rule  to 
Ireland.  America's  grand  old  man,  too,  the  eloquent 
Senator  Hoar,  who  has  just  passed  away,  did  a  great 
deal  also  to  break  down  the  barriers  of  prejudice 
against  the  Irish  in  this  continent,  so  that  they  are 
now  generally  recognized  at  their  true  value. 

Aside  from  agrarian  and  political  crime,  the  sad 
result  of  Enghsh  spoUation,  and  an  unfortunate  weak- 
ness to  intemperance,  which  as  we  have  seen  in  the 
previous  chapter,  is  Ukewise  the  unhappy  consequence 
of  English  tyranny,  the  Irish  people  are  the  most 
moral  race  in  the  world.  What  greater  authority  in 
the  eyes  of  an  Englishman  than  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannical  Yet  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  ninth 
edition,  in  its  article  "Ireland"  (table  No.  LVI.)  tells 
us  that  for  an  equal  number  of  population  the  number 
of  the  "more  serious  offences"  are  far  greater  in 
England  than  in  Ireland.  For  the  year  1878  there 
were  only  3842  in  Ireland  but  4797  in  England.  The 
Cheltenham  Enghsh  Examiner  also  informs  us  in  an 
article  dated  Mav  t6,  1886,  that:  "Death  sentences 


TBE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  177 

are  eight  times  greater  in  England  than  in  Ireland 
for  an  equal  number  of  population.  London,  equal  in 
population  to  that  of  all  Ireland,  has  double  the 
Bumber  of  indictable  offences.  Rural  crime  is  also 
greater  in  England  than  in  Ireland.  For  the  same 
population  there  were  in  England  during  1886,  nearly 
twice  as  many  aggravated  assaults  on  women  and 
children  as  in  Ireland.  England  had  597  cases  and 
Ireland  only  337."  The  writer  who  was  a  Presby- 
terian also  assures  us  that  "The  proportion  of  crime 
is  not  only  greater  in  Britain  than  in  Ireland,  but  is 
also  of  a  more  brutal  character." 

Mr.  French,  the  agent  of  the  notorious  Lord 
Landsowne,  in  his  Journals  pubHshed  in  1868,  Vol. 
II.,  page  130,  bears  testimony  that:  "There  are  ten 
times  as  many  murders  in  England  as  in  Ireland.  The 
EngHsh  ruffian  murders  for  money:  the  Irish  murders 
patriotically — to  enforce  a  principle.  The  Irish  con- 
yict  is  not  necessarily  corrupt — he  may  be  reclaimed. 
The  English  convict  is  irreclaimable." 

Nobody  would  ever  accuse  the  late  James  Anthony 
Froude  of  any  special  love  for  the  Irish  people.  Many 
people  now  living  remember  how  he  came  out  from 
England  to  this  country  to  discredit  them,  about 
thirty  years  ago;  and  how  the  eloquent  Irish  Domin- 
ican, Father  Burke,  followed  in  order  to  defend  the 
iair  name  of  his  race.  Yet  probably  never  was 
grander  eulogy  pronounced  over  the  Irish  than  fell 
from  the  lips  of  this  same  Froude  in  a  lecture  delivered 
in  New  York,  in  1872.  "Ireland,"  he  said,  "was  one 
•f  the  poorest  countries  in  Europe,  yet  there  was  less 


178  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

theft,  less  cheating,  less  house-breaking,  less  robbeiy 
of  all  kinds  than  in  any  other  country  of  the  same  size 
in  the  civihzed  world.  In  the  wildest  districts,  the 
people  slept  with  unlocked  doors  and  windows  with 
as  much  security  as  if  they  had  been  with  the  saints 
in  Paradise.  In  the  last  hundred  years  at  least,  im- 
purity had  been  almost  unknown  in  Ireland.  This 
absence  of  vulgar  crime  and  this  exceptional  modesty 
of  character  were  due,  to  their  everlasting  honor,  to 
the  influence  of  the  Catholic  clergy." 

Equally  complimentary  to  the  Irish  is  the  great 
Enghsh  writer,  Thackeray.  In  his  Irish  Sketch  Book, 
page  58,  he  pays  the  following  grand  tribute  to  the 
women  of  Ireland:  ''The  charming  gaiety  and  frank- 
ness of  the  Irish  ladies  have  been  noted  and  admired 
by  every  foreigner  who  has  had  the  good  fortune  to 
mingle  in  their  society,  and  I  hope  it  is  not  detracting 
from  the  merit  of  the  upper  classes  to  say  that  the 
low^er  are  not  a  whit  less  pleasing.  I  never  saw  in  any 
country  such  a  general  grace  of  manner  and  ladyhood. 
In  the  midst  of  their  gaiety,  too,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  they  are  the  chastest  of  women,  and  that  no 
country  in  Europe  can  boast  of  such  general  purity." 

On  page  iii,  the  same  author  continues:  ''There 
are  no  more  innocent  girls  in  the  world  than  the  Irish 
girls,  and  the  women  of  our  squeamish  country  are 
far  more  Hable  to  err.  One  has  but  to  walk  through 
an  English  and  an  Irish  town  and  see  how  much  supe- 
rior is  the  morality  of  the  latter.  That  great  terror- 
striker,  the  Confessional,  is  before  the  Irish  girl,  and 
sooner  or  later  her  sins  must  be  told  there." 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  179 

How  strange  that  both  Froude  and  Thackeray  agree 
that  the  lofty  character  and  high  morality  of  the  Irish 
people  are  due  to  their  rehgion  and  the  Confessional, 
which  so  many  narrow-minded  people  say  tends  to  in- 
crease crime,  by  making  its  pardon  easy!  But  expe- 
rience teaches  just  the  contrary.  When  a  man  goes  to 
Confession  he  must  give  up  sinning.  If  he  relapses 
into  the  same  sin  he  is  soon  refused  absolution,  the 
most  effective  of  all  spiritual  remedies.  Hence,  those 
who  wish  to  keep  on  sinning  and  leading  a  wicked  hfe 
give  up  going  to  Confession  entirely,  because  they 
know  that  if  they  go  to  Confession  they  will  have  to 
amend  their  lives,  to  give  up  their  bad  habits,  to  re- 
store their  ill-gotten  goods,  and  to  repair  the  injury 
done  to  their  neighbor. 

In  all  the  books  which  I  have  read  I  never  found 
but  one  that  really  assails  the  moraUty  of  the  Irish, 
and  gives  any  data  to  justify  such  an  attack  on  their 
character.  That  is  the  book  to  which  I  have  akeady 
alluded,  "The  Priests  and  People  of  Ireland,"  by 
Michael  McCarthy.  But  it  is  ver>'  evident  that  the 
author  of  that  book  was,  as  we  say  in  America,  "only 
playing  to  the  galleries,"  or  in  other  words  only  cater- 
ing to  the  Enghsh  people,  so  that  they  might  purchase 
his  publication. 

Yet  the  only  trace  of  immorahty  which  he  seems 
to  have  been  able  to  discover  in  the  whole  of  Ireland 
was  in  a  small  portion  of  the  City  of  Dublin,  which  he 
styled  a  regular  Yoshiwari  or  Japanese  dive.  He 
likewise  claims  that  eighty  per  cent,  of  the  fallen 
women  of  DubHn  in  houses  of  ill-repute  are  Catholics. 


i«e  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

But  certainly  the  Irish  people  may  well  congratulate 
themselves,  even  according  to  Mr.  McCarthy's  cal- 
culations, to  have  only  one  wicked  city  in  the  whole 
island.  Where  is  there  another  country  that  has  such 
a  glorious  record  as  that  ?  How  many  immoral  cities 
there  are  in  England  it  would  be  indeed  difiicult  to 
count.  But  how  shall  we  explain  the  exceptional 
wickedness  of  DubUn  that  renders  it  so  much  out  of 
harmony  with  the  rest  of  the  country?  The  explana- 
tion is  easy.  Though  situated  in  Ireland,  in  reality 
Dublin  is  not  strictly  speaking  an  Irish  city  at  all.  It 
was  originally  built  by  the  Danes,  and  has  long  been 
a  kind  of  cosmopolitan  city,  which,  Hke  all  great  sea- 
port towns,  becomes  a  sink  for  the  moral  dregs  of  the 
world.  But  what  is  still  more  responsible  for  the 
degradation  of  Dublin  is  the  proximity  of  Dublin 
Castle,  with  its  degraded  English  garrison.  In  reality 
Dublin  is  only  a  suburb  of  the  Castle,  and  those  who 
are  in  a  position  to  know  assure  us  that  it  was  the 
Enghsh  garrison  with  its  troop  of  vile  camp-followers 
that  debauched  the  capital  of  Ireland.  This  is  the 
only  intelligent  way  to  explain  why  Dublin  is  so  im- 
moral and  the  rest  of  the  island  is  so  irreproachable. 

It  is  true  the  CathoUc  Church  is  supposed  to  be  su- 
preme in  Dublin,  but  what  can  the  clergy  do  when  they 
have  not  the  civil  power  to  enforce  their  demands? 
People  engaged  in  such  nefarious  traffic  defy  the  most 
positive  commandments  of  God  and  His  Church. 
The  only  thing  that  terrifies  them  is  the  poHceman's 
club.  However,  notwithstanding  Mr.  McCarthy's 
assertion  that  8c  per  cent,  of  the  inmates  of  Dublin's 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  iSi 

bouses  of  ill-repute  are  "practical  Catholics."  I  un- 
hesitatingly claim  that  not  one  of  them  is  a  Catholic. 
They  may  have  been  Catholics  once.  They  may  have 
been  born  of  good  Catholic  parents  and  been  baptized 
Catholics,  but  just  as  soon  as  they  entered  on  their  evil 
ways  the  Catholic  Church  excommunicated  them. 
She  cast  them  out  of  her  fold  as  Lucifer  was  cast  out 
of  heaven,  and  now  they  have  no  more  right  to  be 
called  Catholics  than  the  demons  in  hell  have  to  be 
styled  angels  since  their  fall  from  grace.  But  after 
all,  how  incomparably  virtuous  the  Irish  people  must 
be  when  even  their  political  enemies  have  been  com- 
pelled to  praise  theml 

As  Englishmen  have  spoken  so  eulogistically  of  the 
Irish,  we  sincerely  wish  that  we  could  speak  equally 
well  of  the  English  race;  but  unfortunately,  regard  for 
the  truth  will  not  permit  us.  Be  as  charitable  as  you 
may,  palliate  their  faults  as  much  as  possible,  yet  as  we 
have  already  observed  in  Part  II,  Chapter  V,  there  is 
something  exceedingly  brutal  and  cold-blooded  in  the 
character  of  the  English  thctt  is  entirely  foreign  to 
Irish  character.     History  bears  testimony  to  this  fact. 

Perhaps  there  is  nothing  which  better  indicates  the 
real  character  of  a  race  than  their  native  religious  be- 
lief, unalloyed  by  any  external  influences,  because  a 
people's  religious  ideals  manifest  everything  that  is 
■oblest  and  grandest  in  their  nature,  and  portray  the 
loftiest  aspirations  of  the  soul.  Yet  it  is  actually  a 
iact  related  in  Sanderson's  History  of  England,  page 
«j,  that  before  the  conversion  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  to 
dfcristianity,  their  idea  of  heaven  was  "a  bright  place 


i82  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

called  Valhalla,  where  they  should  lie  on  couches  quaf- 
fing ale  from  the  skulls  of  foemen  who  had  fallen  in 
battle."  What  can  we  think  of  a  race  with  such 
brutal  rehgious  instincts  as  that?  Search  all  history 
and  you  will  never  find  such  degraded  religious  senti- 
ments recorded  of  any  other  race,  even  of  the  lowest 
savages  of  the  forest. 

Another  thing  which  well  illustrates  the  character 
of  a  people  is  their  humanity  or  inhiunanity  in  the 
infliction  of  capital  punishment.  But  scarcely  had 
the  EngUsh  gained  a  foothold  in  Ireland,  in  the  thir- 
teenth century,  when  they  made  a  law  that  any  Eng- 
lishman who  dared  to  marry  an  Irish  woman  should 
be  hanged,  and  whilst  yet  alive  should  have  his  bowels 
torn  out  by  the  executioner,  though  as  Lord  Macau-lay 
facetiously  remarked:  "It  was  not  Ukely  that  a  dis- 
loyal subject  could  feel  himself  won  back  to  loyalty 
whilst  the  hangman  was  grabbing  at  his  entrails." 
Equally  barbarous  was  that  form  of  execution  known 
as  "hanging,  drawing,  and  quartering,"  which  m.eant 
that  the  poor,  unfortunate  victim,  when  only  half 
hanged  was  cut  down  and  his  body  was  hacked  into 
four  quarters.  Then  his  mutilated  remains  were 
hung  over  a  bridge,  in  the  public  highway,  as  a  ghastly 
warning  to  others.  Yet  these  brutal  forms  of  execution 
survived  to  the  dawn  of  the  eighteenth  centur}-.  But 
the  most  dreadful  of  all  forms  of  execution  was  that 
of  burning  at  the  stake.  Yet,  as  if  these  barbaraties 
were  not  sufficiently  cruel,  they  were  frequently  pre- 
ceded by  torture  on  the  rack,  besides  which  the  horrors 
of  the  Spanish  inquisition  dwindle  into  insignificance. 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  183 

Still  more  brutal,  if  that  were  possible,  was  Eng- 
land's persecution  of  the  Irish  people  for  their  fidehty 
to  their  religion.  To  read  of  the  barbarities  which 
she  inflicted  on  the  Irish  martyrs  would  freeze  the 
very  life-blood  in  our  veins.  A  single  instance  will 
suffice  to  illustrate  her  diabolical  cruelty.  In  the 
time  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  Bishop  O'Herhhy,  because 
he  would  not  acknowledge  the  Queen  as  Pope,  had 
his  feet  stuffed  into  tin  boots  filled  with  oil  and  then 
placed  in  stocks  over  the  fire  until  the  boiUng  oil  had 
eaten  away  every  particle  of  flesh  up  to  his  knees. 
During  this  dreadful  torture  the  heroic  bishop  groaned 
and  sobbed  so  piteously  that  he  would  move  the  heart 
of  a  Sioux  or  a  Comanche  Indian;  but  his  moans  had 
no  more  effect  on  his  English  torturers  than  they 
would  have  on  the  demons  of  hell. 

Can  we  be  astonished  that  people  of  such  a  character 
employed  the  scalping  Indians  of  the  forest  against 
their  own  flesh  and  blood  in  the  American  Revolu- 
tionary War?  The  great  EngUsh  statesman,  William 
Pitt,  himself,  bears  testimony  to  this,  and  denounces 
this  uncivilized  method  of  warfare  in  his  speeches, 
in  which  he  describes  the  savages  as  "butchering, 
mutilating,  and  even  devouring  their  mangled  victims." 

No  doubt  it  will  be  alleged  that  all  this  occurred  a 
long  time  ago  and  that  since  then  the  EngUsh  character 
has  become  much  more  humane.  It  is  quite  true 
that  if  you  meet  an  educated  EngUshman  at  the  presr 
ent  day  he  appears  to  be  the  most  poHshed,  the  most 
refined,  and  the  most  cultured  gentleman  in  the  world. 
Yet,  after  fourteen  centuries  of  Christianity,  the  civil- 


r84  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

ization  of  England  is  only  skin  deep.  I  think  that  it 
vras  Bismarck  who  said:  "Scratch  an  Englishman  and 
you  find  a  savage,"  and  certainly  the  Englishma* 
proved  this  only  a  few  years  ago,  in  the  Boer  War. 

Though  pretending  to  be  filled  with  horror  at  the 
ferocity  of  the  Turks  towards  the  poor  Armenians 
and  turning  up  the  whites  of  their  eyes  at  the  Russia* 
atrocities  in  Siberia,  these  saintly  English  did  not 
scruple  to  use  against  the  Boers  Dum  Dum  or  explos- 
ive bullets,  condemned  by  all  civilized  nations  and 
even  by  the  English  themselves  at  the  Hague  Interna- 
tional Peace  Conference  a  short  time  before.  Worse 
still — even  at  this  era  of  enlightenment,  the  opening 
of  the  twentieth  century,  they  actually  employed  the 
savage  Hottentots  of  South  Africa  to  shoot  down  the 
gallant  Boer  farmers  battling  for  liberty,  and  to  mas- 
sacre their  noble  wives,  mothers,  and  children,  whilst 
their  heroic  sons,  husbands,  and  fathers  were  defending 
their  country  on  the  battle-field.  But  most  shameful 
of  all — these  brave  English  soldiers  themselves  actually 
made  war  on  the  poor,  helpless  Boer  women  and  chil- 
dren, collecting  them  into  what  were  styled  Concen- 
tration Camps,  where  they  died  by  the  hundreds  of 
hunger  and  disease,  so  that  finally,  to  save  them  from 
eztermination,  the  gallant  Boer  soldiers  laid  down  their 
arms.  Indeed,  Colonel  Blake,  the  commander  of  the 
Irish  Brigade,  who  fought  side  by  side  with  the  Boers, 
and  afterwards  wrote  the  history  of  the  war,  assures 
us  that  but  for  the  sake  of  their  women  and  children 
these  heroic  farmers  would  never  have  surrendered 

What  a  dreadful  story  of  English  brutality!     Yet 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  185 

England's  moral  turpitude,  h^  if  that  were  possible, 
of  a  still  darker  dye.  A  single  walk  through  London, 
travellers  tell  us,  is  sufficient  to  convince  any  unprej- 
udiced mind  that  it  is  the  most  immoral  city  in  the 
world.  Here  is  an  extract  from  an  article  in  the  New 
York  Sun  of  November  13,  1892,  in  which  an  im 
partial  American  relates  what  he  witnessed  in  London 
with  his  own  eyes: 

"The  degradation  of  woman  is  more  common  in 
London  than  in  any  other  great  city  of  the  world. 
Nowhere  is  the  social  evil  so  obtrusive  and  so  unre- 
pressed.  Vice  in  London  is  more  repulsive  than  in 
more  seductive  Paris.  But  what  it  lacks  in  gilding 
it  makes  up  in  obtrusiveness  and  insistence.  No- 
where on  earth  can  anything  be  found  to  match  the 
scenes  in  Regent  Street,  Piccadilly,  and  the  Strand, 
late  at  night.  Soliciting  by  women  is  entirely  un- 
checked by  the  police.  An  American  gentleman 
walked  along  the  Strand  for  a  single  block  one  even- 
ing last  week,  (November  3,  1892),  without  in  any  way 
encouraging  attention  except  by  his  rather  slow  walk, 
and  he  was  accosted  by  no  less  than  twenty-six  women. 
Within  a  hundred  yards  of  Piccadilly  Circus  there  may 
be  counted  on  any  pleasant  evening  from  1 50  to  300 
bold,  painted  faces  that  mark  as  plainly  as  would  a 
branding-iron  the  name  of  outcast. 

London  shuts  its  official  eye  to  the  whole  thing,  and 
as  a  result  vice  flaunts  itself  where  it  will.  Even  day- 
light does  not  shame  it  out  of  sight.  Criticism  is  an 
ungracious  task,  but  when  the  subjects  of  it  are  them- 
selves the  critics  of  all  the  world,  perhaps  no  apology 


i86  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

is  needed.  The  temptation  to  point  the  finger  of 
scorn  at  London — hypercritical,  hypocritical  London 
— is  far  greater  than  to  join  in  the  chorus  of  denuncia- 
tion of  gay  and  slandered  Paris.  Paris  is  gloriously 
wicked,  London  is  guiltily  so." 

We  might  imagine  that  perhaps  the  moral  condition 
of  London  has  improved  very  much  since  the  above 
lines  were  written  over  a  decade  ago.  But,  on  the  con- 
trary, it  seems  to  have  deteriorated  still  more,  and  vice 
has  become  much  bolder.  An  American  gentleman 
just  returned  from  Europe  has  assured  me  that  fallen 
women  as  thick  as  flies  still  infest  that  portion  of  Lon- 
don which  is  called  the  Strand,  and  so  audacious  have 
they  become  that  they  sometimes  snatch  the  hats  of 
travellers  off  their  heads  in  order  that  they  may  pursue 
them  into  some  low  dive  where  they  are  robbed  b}' 
their  male  confederates. 

England  cannot  say  Uke  Ireland  that  she  has  only 
one  immoral  city  within  her  borders,  for  what  has 
been  related  of  London  is  equally  true  of  all  the  rest 
of  England.  Mr.  Joseph  Kay,  though  himself  an 
Englishman,  in  his  famous  work,  "The  Social  Condi- 
tion of  the  English  People,"  page  ii8,  declares  that: 

"In  the  counties  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk  illegitimacy 
is  very  prevalent.  The  immorality  of  the  young 
women  is  literally  horrible,  and  I  regret  to  say  that  it 
is  on  the  increase  in  a  most  alarming  degree.  No 
person  seems  to  think  anything  at  all  of  it.  There 
appears  to  be  among  the  lower  class  a  perfect  deadness 
of  all  moral  feeling  upon  the  subject,  and  is  is  abso- 
lutely impossible  to  convince  them  that  immorality  is 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  187 

wrong.  They  generally  say  that  if  they  never  do 
anything  worse  than  that  they  shall  get  to  Heaven  as 
well  as  other  people." 

But  still  more  frightful  is  the  account  of  EngHsh 
immorality  from  the  pen  of  an  Anglican  minister,  the 
Rev.  J.  B.  Sweet,  Vicar  of  Devon,  in  1883: 

"Our  fashionable  and  vulgar  moraUty,"  he  says, 
'is  the  natural  product  of  our  popular  theolog)^ 
Licentiousness,  dishonesty,  profligacy,  gambhng,  and 
im  morality  characterize  large  classes  of  society.  At  no 
previous  date  in  Enghsh  history,  has  the  marriage- 
bond,  the  very  basis  of  society,  been  so  openly  vio- 
lated and  dishonored  as  to-day.  The  Divorce-Law 
of  the  State  is  eating  into  the  very  vitals  of  the  nation. 
It  permits  and  encourages  dissolution  of  marriage  on 
easy  terms,  facihtates  (whilst  protesting  against)  col- 
lusive actions  for  adultery,  and  floods  the  whole  realm 
with  vile  details  of  evidence  given  in  the  divorce  courts. 
What  wonder  that  marriage  is  made  by  multitudes  a 
cloak  for  sin,  that  concubinage  increases,  and  that 
the  streets  of  our  metropohs  and  of  various  pro\'in- 
cial  towns  are  said  to  swarm  with  prostitutes,  often 
mere  children,  to  an  extent  never  known  before!" 

What  a  horrifying  picture  of  English  immorality!! 
Thanks  be  to  God  such  a  horrible  state  of  things 
would  not  be  permitted  for  a  single  day  in  Catholic 
Ireland.  According  to  statistics  for  an  equal  number 
of  population,  there  is  over  three  times  more  immoral- 
ity in  England  than  in  Ireland.  But  the  darkest  of 
all  of  England's  dark  crimes  is  the  awful  sin  of  infan- 
ticide, that  awful  transgression  which  cries  to  heaven 


i88  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

for  vengeance.  As  Holy  Scripture  says:  ''Tell  it  not  in 
Gath,  publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Ascalon."  Even 
the  fiercest  tiger  in  the  forest  will  defend  her  offspring 
with  the  last  drop  of  her  blood,  but  the  EngKsh  who 
claim  to  be  the  most  enHghtened,  the  most  civilized,  the 
most  cultured  and  the  most  refined  people  in  the  world, 
actually  murder  their  own  children,  sometimes  before 
they  are  born  at  all — and  generally  for  the  sake  of 
money,  so  that  the  support  of  their  Kttle  ones  miay  not 
be  a  burden  to  them  or  an  obstacle  to  the  accumula- 
tion of  wealth.  Can  we  imagine  anything  more 
brutal,  more  unnatural,  more  heartless,  and  more 
cold-blooded  than  this  ?  Yet  it  is  no  invention  of  the 
imagination,  no  fabrication  of  an  enemy,  for  even  can- 
did Enghshmen  themselves  in  shame  and  sorrow  have 
been  compelled  with  blushes  to  acknowledge  its  truth. 

Mr.  Kay,  whom  we  have  already  quoted  so  often, 
thus  sadly  refers  to  this  unspeakable  crime: 

"Alas,  these  accounts  are  only  too  true!  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  a  great  part  of  the  poorer  classes  of 
this  country  are  sunk  in  such  a  frightful  depth  of  hope- 
lessness, of  misery,  and  utter  moral  degradation  that 
■even  mothers  forget  their  affection  for  their  helpless 
children  and  kill  them  as  a  butcher  does  his  lambs,  in 
order  to  make  money  by  murder." 

A  Protestant  clergyman,  also,  the  Rev.  Canon 
Humble,  in  an  article  contributed  to  The  Church  and 
the  World,  in  1866,  furnishes  us  with  still  more  ghastly 
details  of  this  indescribable  crime: 

"Bundles  are  left  lying  about  the  streets  which 
people  will  not  touch  lest  the  too  familiar  object — a 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  189 

child's  body — should  be  revealed,  perchance  with  a 
pitch-plaster  over  its  mouth,  or  a  woman's  garter 
round  its  throat.  Thus,  too,  the  metropolitan  canal 
boats  are  impeded,  as  they  are  tracked  along,  by  the 
number  of  drowned  infants  with  which  they  come  in 
contact,  and  the  land  is  becoming  defiled  with  the 
blood  of  the  innocent.  We  are  told  by  Dr.  Lankester 
that  there  are  12,000  women  in  London  to  whom  the 
crime  of  child-murder  may  be  attributed.  In  other 
words  one  out  of  every  thirty  women  between  the  ages 
of  fifteen  and  forty-five  years  is  a  murderess." 

Mr.  Kay  again  assures  us  that  in  1850  it  was  ''a 
common  practice  for  the  degraded  poor  in  many  towns 
to  enter  their  children  in  what  were  called  'burial 
clubs'  and  then  cause  their  death  by  starvation,  ill- 
usage,  or  poison  in  order  to  get  the  insurance  money." 
He  cites  as  an  example  how  in  the  City  of  Manchester, 
"One  man  put  his  children  into  nineteen  clubs  and 
one  single  club  boasted  of  34,100  members,  though 
the  whole  population  of  the  town  was  only  36,000.  " 

The  Rev.  B.  Waugh,  likewise,  in  an  article  contrib- 
uted to  the  Contemporary  Review,  May,  1890,  on 
"Baby  Farming"  and  another  on  "Child  Insurance," 
in  the  same  magazine,  July  189?,  afl&rms  that  more 
than  a  thousand  children — most  of  them  no  doubt  ille- 
gitimate— are  murdered  annually  in  England  for  insur- 
ance money.  Even  so  recently  as  May,  189 1,  the 
London  Times  related  how  the  lifeless  bodies  of  ten 
infants  had  just  been  found  floating  on  the  Thames, 
with  their  skulls  fractured,  their  nostrils  flattened  over 
their  faces,  and  their  heads  all  knocked  to  pieces. 


I90  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Surely  the  wrath  of  God  must  soon  fall  upon  Eng- 
land for  this  wholesale  murder  of  the  innocents,  whose 
cries  ascend  to  heaven  caUing  for  justice  on  their 
murderers.  For  twenty  centuries  Herod  has  been 
justly  execrated  by  the  whole  world  for  slaughtering 
the  babes  of  Bethlehem,  but  what  were  the  few  hun- 
dred put  to  death  by  Herod  to  the  tens  of  thousands 
murdered  in  England  by  their  own  fathers  and 
mothers  ?  Search  all  the  records  of  all  the  most  wicked 
pagan  cities  of  old,  condemned  in  the  pages  of  Holy 
Writ,  and  you  will  not  find  anything  so  horrible  as  the 
moral  condition  of  England  at  the  present  day.  Tyre, 
Sidon,  and  Ninive,  which  God  once  threatened  to 
destroy  within  forty  days,  were  saintly  cities  in  com- 
parison with  London.  Even  Sodom  and  Gomorrah 
on  which  the  Lord  rained  down  fire  and  brimstone 
were  respectable  in  contrast  with  it. 

What  must  we  think  of  the  character  of  the  Eng- 
lish people  who  are  guilty  of  such  brutal,  unnatural, 
cold-blooded  crimes  against  their  own  offspring,  and 
have  no  more  regard  for  the  life  of  their  children  than 
that  of  a  dog  or  a  cat?  Must  they  not  be  entirely 
lacking  in  every  rehgious  instinct,  every  generous  im- 
pulse, every  noble,  humane  sentiment?  Must  they 
not  have  the  heart  of  a  hyena  ? 

God  forbid  that  we  should  insult  the  noble,  gener- 
ous, pure.  God-fearing  Irish  by  comparing  them  to 
such  a  totally  depraved  race,  guilty  of  such  hell-born 
crimes!  It  is  quite  true  that  the  Irish  have  their  own 
pecuhar  faults  and  failings  hke  other  races,  but  at 
least  they  have  never  been  so  wild  or  savage  as  to 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  191 

murder  their  own  offspring,  and  by  destroying  the 
family  undermine  the  very  foundations  of  all 
society. 

But  our  American  readers  may  ask:  ^'If  the  Irish 
are  such  model  people  at  home  why  have  they  such 
an  unenviable  criminal  record  in  this  country?"  At 
first  thought  we  might  be  tempted  to  retort  that  per- 
haps the  Americans  themselves  did  not  always  set 
them  good  example.  But,  on  more  mature  dehber- 
ation,  we  are  convinced  that  there  are  two  other  causes 
which  are  far  more  responsible  for  the  alleged  criminal- 
ity of  our  race  in  the  United  States.  They  are  emi- 
gration and  the  saloon.  Transplanting  is  rarely  ben- 
eficial either  to  a  tree  or  to  man.  How  often  a  beau- 
tiful tree  that  is  transplanted  withers  and  dies!  So 
everybody  at  all  experienced  knows  that  emigration 
from  one's  native  land  is  a  dangerous  trial  to  virtue. 
At  home  a  man  has  everything  to  strengthen  his  moral 
character.  He  and  his  family  may  he  well-known 
and  highly  respected  in  the  community.  Therefore, 
he  has  not  only  to  maintain  his  own  good  name  but 
also  that  of  his  family,  since  even  the  humblest  Irish 
family  is  as  proud  of  its  family  tree  as  the  greatest 
royal  house  of  Europe.  But  when  an  Irishman  leaves 
his  native  land  and  comes  into  a  strange  country, 
where  nobody  knows  him  and  he  has  no  family  honor 
to  sustain,  he  would  not  be  human  if  he  did  not  ex- 
perience a  great  temptation  to  indulge  in  dissipation. 
This  is  the  conclusion  arrived  at  by  an  American 
gentleman  by  the  name  of  Mr.  Charles  Brace,  after 
an  investigation  of  twenty  years  among  the  emigrants 


192  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

of  New  York.      The  result  of  his  observations  he  sums 
up  in  the  following  words: 

"There  is  no  question  that  the  breaking  up  of  the 
ties  with  one's  country  has  a  bad  moral  effect, 
especially  on  the  laboring  class.  The  emigrant  is 
released  from  the  social  inspection  and  judgment  to 
which  he  has  been  subjected  at  home,  and  the  tie  of 
Church  and  priesthood  is  weakened.  If  a  Roman 
Catholic  he  is  often  a  worse  CathoHc  without  being  a 
better  Protestant.  If  a  Protestant  he  often  becomes 
indifferent.  Moral  ties  are  loosened  with  the  religious. 
The  consequence  is  that  most  of  the  criminals  of  New 
York  are  foreign-born,  and  the  majority  of  these  were 
bom  in  Ireland ;  and  yet  at  home  the  Irish  are  one  of 
the  most  law-abiding  and  virtuous  of  populations — 
the  proportion  of  criminals  being  smaller  than  in 
England." 


CHAPTER  III. 

Alleged  Irish  Intemperance. 

THIS  is  a  subject  which  every  Irish  author  ap- 
proaches with  fear  and  trembHng,  because 
he  knows  that  intemperance  has  been  for 
centuries  the  curse  and  the  national  sin  of  his  race. 
Do  what  he  will,  explain  it  as  best  he  can,  place  the 
responsibility  wherever  he  may,  he  cannot  deny  the 
fact,  for  everybody  knows  it,  especially  here  in  the 
United  States.  Nothing  remains  but  to  confess  it  in 
shame  and  humiliation,  for  "a  fault  confessed  is  half 
redressed." 

No  imagination  can  picture,  no  mind  can  conceive, 
no  tongue  can  tell  all  the  evils  that  this  dreadful  vice 
has  brought  upon  our  race.  How  many  wives  it  has 
made  widows,  how  many  children  it  has  made  orphans, 
how  many  victims  it  has  driven  to  insanity  or  to  an 
early  grave,  how  many  families  it  has  broken  up,  how 
many  adherents  it  has  caused  to  be  lost  to  the  Church, 
God  alone  can  tell! 

As  we  look  around  this  great  country  to-day  it  is 
gratifying  to  notice  how  many  poor  Irish  emigrants 
who  came  here  less  than  a  score  of  years  ago  now  pos- 
sess nice,  comfortable  homes  of  their  own,  whilst  their 
sons  are  going  to  college  and  their  daughters  to  an 
academy.  Certainly  this  speaks  volumes  for  their 
thrift,  their  industry,  and  their  temperate  habits. 
But  how  many  other  Irishmen  who  came  here  at  the 


194  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

same  time  are  still  living  in  wretched  hovels  not  fit  for 
swine!  Their  wives  and  children  are  starving  with 
the  hunger,  their  clothing  is  in  rags,  and  they  would 
perish  with  the  cold  in  the  Winter  if  the  Church  did 
not  take  pity  on  them ;  whilst  their  miserable  husbands 
and  fathers  spend  all  their  earnings  for  intoxicaitng 
liquor  on  a  Saturday  night,  instead  of  bringing  home 
their  wages  for  the  support  of  their  families. 

In  times  gone  by  how  many  other  Irish  fathers  and 
mothers,  unworthy  of  the  name,  did  not  intemperance 
plunge  into  prison  or  into  an  early  grave!  But  what 
became  of  their  poor,  unfortunate  children?  Before 
Catholic  homes  were  erected  to  receive  them  they 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  State — a  Protestant  State. 
The  State  transferred  them  into  the  custody  of  Prot- 
estant families,  hundreds  of  them  were  shipped  out 
West  to  other  Protestant  families,  and  brought  up 
Protestants.  That  is  one  of  the  principal  reasons 
why  to-day  we  find  so  many  Protestants  having  good, 
old,  Irish-Catholic  names.  But  that  is  the  only  thing 
Catholic  about  them,  for  they  are  the  most  bigoted  of 
all  Protestants,  and  they  hate  the  Catholic  Church 
more  than  all  other  Protestants,  because  that  is  the 
way  they  were  instructed  by  their  Protestant  foster- 
parents.  It  is  estimated  that  10,000,000  souls  have 
been  lost  to  the  Catholic  Church  in  this  country  alone. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  many  of  these  losses  are  due  to 
the  evils  of  mixed  marriages  and  the  scarcity  of  priests 
in  the  early  days  of  American  history,  but  no  incon- 
siderable part  of  this  leakage  may  be  attributed  to  the 
conduct  of  unworthy  parents,  through  whose  intem- 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  195 

perance  many  children  were  lost  to  the  true  faith. 
But  for  these  defections  the  number  of  Catholics  in 
the  United  States  would  be  double  what  it  is  to-day. 
Instead  of  only  10,000,000  Catholics  we  should  have 
20,000,000.  Thus  we  have  lost  more  by  perversion 
than  we  have  gained  by  conversion. 

It  is  very  hard  to  understand  how  the  Irish,  whose 
character,  as  we  have  observed  in  the  previous  chapter, 
is  naturally  so  noble,  could  degrade  themselves  to 
such  a  beastly  sin  as  gluttony,  like  that  low,  degraded 
animal  called  the  glutton,  which  eats  and  drinks  until 
it  has  made  itself  sick.  The  explanation  is  that  the 
Irish  are  not  naturally  more  intemperate  than  people 
of  other  races  but  they  have  been  very  unfortunate 
indeed  in  the  selection  of  their  national  beverage. 
The  German  loves  his  beer,  the  Frenchman,  the  ItaUan 
and  the  Spaniard  their  wines.  These  are  all  only 
slightly  intoxicating  liquors,  but  very  unhappily  for 
the  Irishman,  his  choice  has  been  the  highly  intox- 
icating whiskey.  This  explains  why  people  on  the 
continent  of  Europe  may  drink  nearly  all  day  and  yet 
be  considered  a  temperate  race,  but  very  little  expe- 
rience with  whiskey  is  sufl&cient  to  brand  the  Irishman 
as  a  drunkard  and  a  criminal.  It  is  thus  that  the 
Irish  have  got  such  a  reputation  for  criminaHty. 

Before  the  invention  of  whiskey  the  Irish  people  were 
a  most  exemplary  race.  They  were  a  nation  of  saints 
and  scholars.  When  St.  Patrick  went  to  convert  them 
fifteen  centuries  ago,  drunkenness  was  unknown 
amongst  them,  because  whiskey  had  not  yet  been  in- 
vented, nor  for  centuries  afterwards.     If  it  had,  it  is 


196  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

likely  that  even  St.  Patrick  himself  could  not  have 
converted  Ireland  so  easily.  But  if  only  St.  Patrick 
would  rise  from  the  dead  and  \dsit  his  spiritual  chil- 
dren to-day,  what  a  change  he  would  find !  No  doubt 
he  would  discover  a  great  many  Irish  CathoHcs  lead- 
ing good,  sober,  temperate  lives  to-day  as  in  his  own 
time,  but  how  many  others  would  he  behold  disgracing 
their  family,  their  Church,  and  their  rehgion  by  their 
intemperate  lives! 

It  is  now  more  than  eight  centuries  since  whiskey 
was  first  invented,  and  who  can  calculate  all  the  mis- 
fortunes which  it  has  occasioned  our  race  during  all 
that  time?  If  the  Arabian  chemist  who  invented  it 
in  the  eleventh  century  could  have  forseen  all  the  mis- 
chief it  would  produce  in  the  world  he  would  never 
have  made  known  his  discovery  to  mankind.  From 
Arabia  merchants  carried  over  the  new  invention  to 
Ireland  and  it  was  there,  I  regret  to  say,  that  it  received 
the  name  w^hich  it  bears  to  the  present  day.  The 
word  whiskey  is  an  Irish  expression  that  means 
''the  water  of  life."  If  the  poor  Irishman  that  gave 
it  such  a  fanciful  title  could  have  foreknown  what 
havoc  it  would  have  wrought  among  his  countrymen, 
he  would  never  have  given  it  such  a  high-sounding 
appellation.  He  would  probably  have  styled  it  "fire- 
water" as  the  Indians  of  the  forest  named  it  when  it 
was  first  introduced  among  them,  for  that  is  the  name 
it  deserves. 

For  hundreds  of  years  the  CathoHc  Church  has 
been  striving  hard  to  eradicate  the  vice  of  intemper- 
ance from  the  hearts  of  the  Irish  people,  otherwise  her 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  197 

noblest  subjects.  Everywhere  she  has  established  tem- 
perance societies  and  raised  up  powerful  temperance 
crusaders  to  combat  this  terrible  evil.  Where,  out- 
side the  Catholic  Church,  has  there  ever  been  found 
a  great  temperance  reformer  like  Father  Matthew, 
who,  in  a  visit  to  the  United  States,  administered  the 
total  abstinence  pledge  to  600,000  of  his  countrymen, 
besides  millions  of  others  in  Ireland,  England,  and  Scot- 
land? In  this  country,  too,  even  at  the  present  day, 
what  a  gallant  corps  of  temperance  leaders  we  have 
in  Archbishop  Ireland,  Bishop  Conaty,  and  the  Rev. 
John  Mullen,  D.D.,  of  Boston,  who  is  now  so  ably 
filling  the  place  of  the  late  lamented  Father  Scully! 

Moreover,  at  the  last  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore, 
all  the  CathoHc  Bishops  of  the  United  States  condem- 
ned the  hquor  traffic  as  a  disreputable  business,  and 
called  upon  all  Catholics  to  give  up  the  liquor  saloon 
and  engage  in  some  more  honorable  occupation,  as 
soon  as  possible.  Besides,  several  CathoHc  societies, 
such  as  the  Knights  of  Columbus,  and  the  Cathohc 
Union  of  Boston,  positively  refuse  to  admit  to  mem- 
bership in  these  associations  anyone  who  is  in  any 
way  connected  with  the  Kquor  business. 

Nevertheless,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  most  of  those 
engaged  in  the  hquor  business  are  still  Irish  CathoHcs, 
and  this  has  given  our  Enghsh  cousins  a  pretext  for 
asserting  that  the  Catholic  Church  is  the  fruitful 
mother  of  rum-sellers  and  drunkards.  But  nothing 
is  further  from  the  truth.  This  base  calumny  comes 
with  very  poor  grace  especially  from  those  who  are  not 
by  any  means  models  of  temperance  themselves.     In- 


T98  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

deed,  it  is  a  fact  not  generally  known  that  intemperate 
as  the  Irish  certainly  are,  the  English  are  far  more  so. 
We  do  not  say  this  to  excuse  the  intemperance  of  the 
Irish  but  simply  to  remind  their  critics  that  they  should 
^'cast  the  beam  out  of  their  own  eye  before  they  at- 
tempt to  take  the  mote  out  of  their  brother's  eye." 
The  inebriety  of  the  Irish  has  become  so  notorious, 
because  the  English,  in  order  to  withdraw  the  attention 
of  mankind  from  their  own  faults,  have  published  the 
defects  of  our  race  all  over  the  world.  Even  the 
amiable  Thackeray  has  an  intoxicated  Irishman  as 
one  of  the  low  characters  of  one  of  his  novels  which  is 
called  "Pendennig." 

Yet,  according  to  statistics,  there  is  far  more  intox- 
icating liquor  consumed  in  England  and  Scotland 
than  there  is  in  Ireland.  Mulhall,  though  himself  an 
Englishman  and  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Statistical 
Society,  tells  us  in  his  "Dictionary  of  Statistics,"  a 
work  of  great  research  composed  in  1892,  that  the 
average  yearly  consumption  of  alcoholic  liquor,  for 
each  inhabitant  of  the  United  Kingdom  is,  in  Ireland, 
only  1.40  gallons,  in  Scotland,  1.60  gallons,  but  in 
England  2.13  gallons.  It  is  true  there  are  more  con- 
victions for  drunkenness  in  Ireland  in  proportion  to 
the  population  than  in  England,  but,  as  we  shall  soon 
see  that  is  because  the  laws  against  intoxication  are  en- 
forced in  Ireland  and  not  in  England.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  number  of  deaths  from  inebriety,  is  consid- 
erably greater  in  England  in  proportion  to  population 
than  in  Ireland.  Indeed,  if  London  is  any  criterion 
of  the  rest  of  England,  that  kingdom  mast  be  the 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  ig^ 

most  intemperate  nation  in  the  world.  Here  is  an 
extract  from  the  New  York  Sun,  of  Nov,  13,  1892, 
which  contains  some  very  startUng  truths: 

"The  degradation  of  woman  in  London  is  more 
common  than  in  any  other  great  city  of  the  world. 
Nowhere  else  is  drunkenness  as  common  among 
women  as  among  men.  All  her  public  bars  are 
thronged  with  women;  there  are  more  drunken 
women  on  her  streets  than  drunken  men;  and  a  very 
large  majority  of  the  prisoners  complained  of  in  her 
principal  police  courts  for  being  ^drunk  and  dis- 
orderly' are  women.  This  has  been  the  state  of  things 
for  some  time,  but  the  evil  has  been  growing  rapidly 
worse,  and  it  was  not  until  the  Daily  Telegraph  began 
a  series  of  graphic  portrayals  of  the  great  disgrace 
under  the  caption  '^The  National  Shame"  that  the 
callous  public  conscience  was  aroused. 

In  America  it  would  be  safe  to  assume,  nine  times 
out  of  ten,  that  a  woman  seen  drinking  at  a  pubUc 
saloon  bar  was  a  drunkard  and  that  she  was  not  a 
stranger  to  the  poHce  court.  The  practice  is  unknown 
even  among  the  lowest  resorts.  On  the  other  hand 
almost  every  public  bar  in  London  has  a  very  large 
portion  of  it  partitioned  off  for  the  special  use  of  female 
customers.  This  does  not  mean  that  there  is  any  real 
privacy  or  separation  of  the  sexes.  Gin  is  the  utmost 
tipple  and  gin  is  to-day  a  greater  curse  to  EngUsh 
women  than  whiskey  is  to  all  America. 

Statistics  of  vice  are  entirely  untrustworthy  data 
upon  which  to  base  an  estimate  of  the  moral  standing 
of  a  community  or  nation.     The  town  which  enforces 


200  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

in  the  courts  the  laws  against  drunkenness  and  un- 
chastity  for  instance,  appears  on  the  records  to  be 
steeped  in  vice,  while  its  profligate  neighbor,  which 
scarcely  represses  indulgence  in  vicious  appetites, 
passes  for  a  model  community.  But  if  everybody 
who  got  drunk  in  London  were  arrested,  all  the  jails 
and  pohce  stations  of  the  metropolis  could  not  hold 
the  prisoners.  No  one  is  ever  arrested  in  London  for 
simple  intoxication.  The  law  as  it  stands  does  not 
permit  it.  The  police  have  not  even  authority  to  ar- 
rest a  drunken  person  in  a  place  of  public  amusement. 

A  woman  drunk  or  under  the  influence  of  liquor  is 
a  rare  sight  in  the  streets  of  New  York.  But  in  the 
streets  of  London,  the  black-bonnetted,  black-gowned, 
shabby,  Hstless  figure,  with  pale,  prematurely  old, 
slightly  bloated  face,  bearing  traces  still  of  refinement, 
with  bony,  white  hands  holding  the  black  shawl  tightly 
about  her,  standing  patiently  and  pennilessly  outside 
the  public  house,  is  a  sight  more  famihar  than  the 
poHceman  on  the  corner.  She  does  not  beg.  That 
would  be  a  crime,  and  would  bring  swift  punishment 
as  does  every  offence  under  the  English  law  which  in 
the  least  threatens  an  EngHshman's  pin-se.  She  waits, 
no  matter  how  long,  until  another  of  her  class,  more 
fortunate  than  she  comes  with  a  few  coins  to  purchase 
and  share  the  'drop,'  which  alone  brings  them  a  poor 
counterfeit  of  happiness. 

Lady  Frederick  Cavendish  in  a  recent  address 
before  the  annual  Church  Congress  said: 

Tn  the  old,  heavy-drinking  days,  excess  among  the 
ladies  was  to  the  best  of  my  belief,  absolutely  unknown. 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  201 

Can  we  say  so  much  to-day?  Are  nips  at  it  A.  M. 
or  after  dinner  unheard  of  or  never  resorted  to  by 
ladies  ?  I  must  also  here  protest  against  a  new  fashion 
of  young  ladies — or  old  ones  for  that  matter — accom- 
panying the  gentlemen  to  the  smoking-room  after 
dinner  and  sharing  not  only  the  cigars  but  the  spirits 
and  water.'" 

No  wonder  that  England  is  getting  alarmed  over 
the  intemperance  of  her  citizens,  when  according  to 
statistics  60,000  people  die  in  England  every  year 
of  the  effects  of  intoxicating  drink;  there  are  600,000 
habitual  drunkards  in  Britain  and  8,373  ^^  these  are 
women !  With  such  a  terrible  record  for  intemperance 
how  can  the  English  with  any  sort  of  decency  point 
the  finger  or  scorn  at  the  Irish  for  lack  of  sobriety? 

Though  we  shall  not  at  all  attempt  to  excuse  or 
palliate  the  faults  of  our  countrymen,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  their  intemperance  has  been  greatly  exaggerated, 
and  they  have  been  placed  in  a  false  Hght  in  compar- 
ison with  other  races.  The  prosperous  Yankee  or 
Englishman  has  all  the  liquor  he  wishes  in  his  own 
house,  or  he  has  a  sumptuous  club-room  where  he 
may  drink  as  much  as  he  pleases.  If  he  gets  intox- 
icated his  comrades  call  a  hack  and  send  him  home, 
so  that  he  may  sleep  off  his  debauch.  Next  day  he  is 
as  sober  as  ever  and  few  are  the  wiser  of  his  condition 
the  previous  night.  But  as  most  of  our  Irish  emigrants 
to  this  country  have  hitherto  been  very  poor,  the  bar- 
room was  their  cheapest  club-room.  However,  if 
they  happened  to  indulge  a  little  to  excess,  there  they 
had  no  hackman  to  take  them  home  and  nine  times  out 


202  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

of  ten  fell  into  the  arms  of  a  policeman.  Besides,  it 
is  very  unfortunate  for  the  Irishman  that  an  excess 
of  liquor  generally  makes  him  very  beUigerent.  Whilst 
intoxication  stupefies  an  Englishman  or  a  Scotchman 
and  reduces  him  to  the  condition  of  a  brute,  it  gen- 
erally makes  the  Irishman  so  lively  that  as  Henry 
Cabot  Lodge  said:  '*He  wants  to  annihilate  all  the 
enemies  of  his  native  land."  Accordingly  he  generally 
mistakes  the  police  ofl&cer  who  arrests  him  for  an 
Orangeman.  The  result  is  that  next  day  he  is  in 
court  not  only  on  a  charge  of  drunkenness,  but  like- 
wise of  assault.  Thus  the  poor  Irishman  has  built  up 
for  himself  an  unmerited  criminal  record  which  the 
more  prosperous  Englishman  has  been   spared. 

If  Irishmen  would  avoid  this  undeserved  reproach 
in  the  futiure,  the  only  safe  course  to  follow  is  to  give 
up  imbibing  whiskey  altogether.  Nobody  but  a  fa- 
natic will  assert  that  whiskey  is  bad  in  itself,  or  that  it 
is  sinful  to  drink  it  in  moderation,  but  there  is  gener- 
ally so  much  danger  of  drinking  to  excess  that  it  is 
far  better  to  abstain  from  it  entirely.  If  our  country- 
men must  have  some  stimulant,  let  them,  like  the 
French,  the  Italians,  and  the  Spaniards  drink  only 
wine,  or  imitate  the  Germans,  who  pass  a  most  pleas- 
ant evening  of  sociability  over  a  couple  of  glasses  of  beer 
and  a  few  songs. 

Another  wise  resolution  which  the  Irish  people 
should  take  is  to  give  up  the  habit  of  treating.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  this  has  been  the  immediate  cause  of 
much  of  their  intemperance  in  the  past.  It  is  not  from 
brutal  love  of  liquor  that  an  Irishman  drinks  but  gen- 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  203 

erally  for  friendship's  sake.  So  when  a  company  of 
Irishmen  meet  together,  each  one  insists  on  treating 
his  comrades  in  turn  until  they  are  all  intoxicated. 
Hence  the  late  Cardinal  Newman  once  said  that: 
"The  Irishman  drinks  from  sociabiUty,  but  the  Eng- 
lishman from  brutality."  Consequently,  if  the  Irish 
were  not  so  free-hearted  and  free-handed,  if  they  ab- 
stained from  whiskey  and  did  away  with  the  old, 
obsolete,  threadbare  custom  of  treating,  they  would 
be  the  most  temperate  people  in  the  w^orld.  Then 
they  would  soon  become  a  great  power  at  home  and 
abroad.  This  would  do  more  than  anything  else  to 
hasten  Home  Rule;  for  it  would  be  the  best  proof  that 
they  are  capable  of  governing  themselves. 

In  this  country,  too,  it  would  increase  their  influence 
a  hundred  fold.  As  the  Yankees  are  now  dying  out, 
the  Irish  would  inherit  all  the  property  which  they  have 
been  accumulating  for  hundreds  of  years.  Instead 
of  a  New  England  we  should  soon  have  a  New  Ire- 
land. This  whole  vast  country  would  sim.ply  be  a 
Land  of  Promise  for  our  race.  Will  they  or  will  they 
not  prove  worthy  of  their  heritage  ?  If  they  fail  to  take 
advantage  of  their  opportunity,  the  French,  the  Ital- 
ians, the  Hebrews,  and  the  Negroes,  who  are  following 
closely  behind  them,  will  receive  the  grand  inheritance 
which  they  failed  to  grasp. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Are  the  Irish  an  Envious  Race? 

NEXT  to  the  accusation  of  intemperance  there 
is  no  charge  more  frequently  made  against 
the  Irish  people  than  that  they  are  a  very  en- 
vious race,  who  are  jealous  of  the  prosperity  of  their 
English  neighbors  and  of  one  another.  However,  it 
would  be  very  hard  for  their  accusers  to  substantiate 
this  baseless  allegation.  The  general  character  of  the 
Irish  people  is  sufficient  proof  against  such  a  con- 
temptible slander. 

The  Irish  are  naturally  a  kind-hearted,  frank,  open 
people,  full  of  good-nature  and  sunshine.  Every  trav- 
eller who  visits  their  isle  immediately  remarks  that. 
One  of  the  first  things  that  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  English  v^iter,  Thackeray,  on  his  visit  to  Ireland 
more  than  half  a  century  ago,  was  the  genial,  hospit- 
able disposition  of  the  inhabitants.  But  certainly  that 
is  not  the  congenial  soil  for  the  weeds  of  envy  to  grow. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  true  that  in  spite  of  all  his  good 
nature,  wherever  you  meet  an  Irishman,  whether  in 
his  native  land  or  in  exile  in  distant  climes,  he  almost 
invariably  manifests  a  deep-seated  hatred  against 
England  and  the  English  Government.  Indeed,  this 
is  a  feeUng  which  he  makes  no  attempt  to  conceal, 
and  it  is  even  more  intense  in  those  who  have  left  their 
native  land  than  in  those  who  have  remained  at  home. 

Any  sensible  man  can  see  at  a  glance  that  this  feel- 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  2®5 

ing  of  resentment  is  the  very  best  proof  of  English 
tyranny,  oppression,  and  misgovernment  in  Ireland. 
The  slightest  exercise  of  common  sense  should  con- 
vince anyone  that  a  people  so  good  and  amiable  as  the 
Irish  naturally  are  would  not  entertain  such  bitter 
feelings  in  their  heart  for  no  reason  whatsoever.  It 
is  clear  that  it  must  have  sprung  from  some  wrong, 
and  a  very  grievous  wrong,  or  some  great  injury  on 
the  part  of  England. 

Yet  the  EngHsh  pretend  that  they  cannot  under- 
stand this  deep  antipathy  of  the  Irish  people  towards 
them.  They  are  completely  at  a  loss  to  comprehend 
it  and  the  only  explanation  they  can  give  is  that  the 
Irish  are  jealous  of  them,  and  envy  their  fine  army, 
their  splendid  navy,  and  their  world-wide  empire. 
But  there  are  none  so  blind  as  those  who  will  not  see; 
and  certainly  the  English  must  be  wilfully  blind  if 
they  can  give  no  better  explanation  than  this  of  Irish 
hostility  to  them. 

Though  the  Irish  people  are  sensitive,  they  do  not 
easily  take  offence;  though  impulsive,  they  easily  for- 
give and  forget  a  wrong;  but  when  century  after  cen- 
tury the  English  have  driven  the  iron  of  oppression 
deep  down  into  their  very  soul,  it  is  natural  that  there 
should  settle  in  their  heart  a  profound  feeling  of  hatred 
for  England  which  it  is  very  hard  to  eradicate.  How 
can  the  poor  Irishman,  eking  out  a  miserable  subsist- 
ence for  himself  and  family  on  a  barren  Irish  hillside, 
entertain  warm  feeUngs  of  regard  for  England  which 
deprived  him  of  rich,  ancestral  estates  that  rightly  be- 
long  to  him?    Why  should   the   Irish   in  America 


2o6  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

tenderly  love  dear  "Mother  England"  that  drove  them 
into  exile  from  their  native  land  ?  We  can  readily  un- 
derstand, therefore,  why  the  Irish  hate  England,  but 
how  the  English  could  expect  the  Irish  to  love  them 
after  all  the  injuries  which  they  have  inflicted  upon 
them  is  beyond  our  comprehension. 

What  wonder  then  that  the  Irish  were  glad  of  Eng- 
land's humiUation  during  the  late  Boer  War!  What 
wonder  that  priests  in  the  course  of  their  ministry  some- 
times meet  good,  old  honest  Irishmen  who  declare 
that  the  only  sin  they  ever  commit  is  to  curse  Eng- 
land! What  wonder  that  England  occasionally  ex- 
periences a  nightmare  of  terror  at  the  prospect  of 
some  Irish  Fenians  or  Clan-na- Gaels  blowing  up  Lon- 
don Bridge  and  dynamiting  the  English  House  of 
Parliament!  Like  the  Nihilists  and  Anarchists,  who 
are  the  offspring  of  Russian  and  German  despotism, 
these  Irish  revolutionary  societies  are  the  direct  result 
of  English  tyranny  and  misgovernment. 

Yet  it  must  be  remembered  that  such  secret  organ- 
izations are  discountenanced  by  the  better  class  among 
the  Irish  people.  The  great  majority  of  the  Irish  race 
are  good,  faithful  Christians  and  loyal  CathoHcs  who 
endeavor  to  keep  all  the  commandments  of  God  and 
the  Church.  Our  Saviour  has  commanded  us  to  love 
even  our  worst  enemies,  so  they  strive  to  love  even  the 
English  who  have  inflicted  so  much  injury'  upon  them. 
However,  this  does  not  mean  at  all  that  they  may  not 
still  hate  the  misdeeds  of  England.  It  is  true  we  are 
bound  to  love  our  enemies,  but  we  are  not  obliged  to 
love  their  evil  deeds.    So,  when  the  Irish  express  their 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  207 

dislike  of  England,  as  a  general  rule,  it  is  not  Britain 
herself  or  her  inhabitants  that  they  hate  but  only  their 
wrong-doing,  and  it  is  perfectly  lawful  to  speak  out 
boldly  against  wrong  wherever  it  exists. 

Englishmen  may  call  this  envy  if  they  please,  but  it 
would  be  exceedingly  difficult  task  for  them  to  prove 
the  Irish  guilty  of  it.  In  order  to  convict  anyone  of  a 
crime  in  a  court  of  justice  the  first  thing  to  do  is  to 
estabHsh  a  motive  for  his  criminal  act,  and  unless  this 
can  be  proved  it  will  be  impossible  to  condemn  him. 
But  the  Irish  people  have  absolutely  no  motive  for 
envying  England.  To  be  envious  of  anyone  implies 
that  he  has  some  accomplishment,  virtue,  or  property 
which  we  do  not  possess,  but  which  we  covet.  Now 
what  has  England  that  Ireland  would  wish  to  acquire  ? 
Where  is  the  Irishman,  be  he  ever  so  poor,  who  would 
desire  to  possess  the  rapacity  of  England  and  to  have 
all  her  robberies  and  spoHations  weighing  down  upon 
his  soul?  No!  not  for  the  whole  world  would  the 
Irish  with  all  their  poverty  change  places  with  Eng- 
land, for  she  has  certainly  a  dark  record  which  is  not 
at  all  to  be  envied.  I  am  quite  sure  the  Irish  would 
not  grudge  England  her  possessions  if  she  had  ac- 
quired them  honorably  and  had  not  so  grievously  in- 
jured Ireland  herself.  How  strange  that  they  are 
never  accused  of  being  envious  of  France,  Prussia, 
and  the  United  States! 

No  doubt  there  are  envious  individuals  of  the  Irish 
race  as  well  as  of  all  other  races ;  but  we  cannot  admit 
that  envy  is  a  sin  specially  pecuHar  to  the  Irish  people 
as  a  whole.     Envy  is  one  of  the  seven  capital  sins  and 


2o8  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

all  races  have  a  fair  share  of  it.  Cain,  the  first  mur- 
derer, who  killed  his  brother  Abel,  was  never  accused 
of  being  an  Irishman.  But  if  the  Irish  are  envious  of 
England  because  they  denounce  her  robberies  and 
spoliations,  on  the  very  same  principle  the  whole 
world  must  be  jealous  of  her,  for  she  is  to-day  hated 
by  nearly  every  other  nation  under  heaven.  She  has 
not  a  friend  in  the  world  except  Pagan  Japan  which 
befriends  her  for  her  own  selfish  interest. 

But  has  England  herself  been  ever  envious?  Cer- 
tainly not,  the  poor,  guileless  creature!  She  is  like  a 
little,  innocent  lamb  and  the  other  nations  of  the  world 
like  envious  wolves  prowling  around  her.  Neverthe- 
less, can  England  satisfactorily  explain  why  in  the 
penal  days  she  strictly  forbade  Ireland  to  engage  in 
commerce  until  British  trade  was  firmly  estabUshed 
in  all  the  markets  of  the  world  ?  Was  it  not  because 
she  was  envious  of  Irish  competition?  Again,  why 
did  she  goad  the  Irish  people  into  rebellion  so  as 
have  a  pretext  for  taking  away  their  Parliament 
in  1800?  Was  it  not  because  she  was  jealous  to 
see  Ireland  prospering  so  much  under  Home  Rule? 

Now  England  has  no  longer  any  reason  to  be  en- 
vious of  Erin,  because  poor  Ireland  is  down  in  the  dust, 
her  population  has  dwindled  to  a  handful,  her  com- 
merce destroyed  by  adverse  EngHsh  legislation  and 
England  has  already  acquired  all  the  markets  of  the 
world.  It  is  therefore  now  perfectly  safe  for  England 
to  ask  Ireland  with  mock  gravity  why  the  Irish  people 
do  not  compete  with  the  English  in  a  fair  field  for  the 
commerce  of  the  universe. 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  209 

But  there  are  three  other  nations  of  whom  England 
is  insanely  envious;  they  are  the  United  States,  Ger- 
many, and  Russia.  For  many  years  the  United  States 
and  Germany  have  been  underselling  England  in  all 
the  markets  of  the  world,  until  finally  Englishmen  had 
the  humihation  of  seeing  American  goods  sold  in  Eng- 
land cheaper  than  they  could  manufacture  goods  of 
the  same  quality  at  home.  What  pangs  of  envy  must 
have  filled  the  heart  of  England  on  beholding  such  a 
national  disgrace!  What  wonder  that  poor  Joseph 
Chamberlain  in  desperation  thought  he  would  remedy 
matters  by  aboHshing  the  old  English  system  of  Free 
Trade,  and  establishing  a  tariff  in  England,  as  in  the 
United  States!  But  unfortunately  his  scheme  seems 
to  have  proved  a  failure. 

Though  England  pretends  to  be  the  special  friend 
of  the  United  States,  there  is  no  other  country  in  the 
world  of  which  she  is  more  envious,  because  she  re- 
gards her  as  her  most  dangerous  rival.  One  very  re- 
markable thing  about  an  EngHshman  is  that  he  is 
very  clever  in  concealing  his  feeHngs.  If  an  Irish- 
man is  envious  of  anyone  he  lets  the  whole  world 
know  it,  but  an  Englishman  may  be  full  of  envy 
towards  a  person  and  yet  pretend  to  be  his  best  friend. 
But  actions  speak  louder  than  words.  In  spite  of  all 
England's  protestations  of  friendship  for  this  country, 
Americans  cannot  forget  how,  during  the  Civil  War, 
she  manifested  her  hidden  envy  by  subsidizing  the 
Southern  Confederacy  and  fitting  out  the  Alabama 
to  prey  upon  American  commerce. 

England's  envy  of  the  United  States  in  the  West  is 


2IO  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

rivalled  only  by  her  jealousy  of  Russia  in  the  East. 
Who  can  count  how  many  nights  EngHsh  statesmen 
must  have  remained  awake  fearing  that  when  they 
arose  in  the  morning  they  might  l&nd  the  Russian  Bear 
with  one  huge  paw  upon  China  and  the  other  upon 
India  ?  Who  can  be  ignorant  that  it  was  this  English 
jealousy  which  brought  about  the  present  inhuman 
war  between  Russia  and  Japan?  Afraid  herself  to 
attack  the  great  Colossus  of  the  North,  England  cun- 
ningly pushed  Japan  into  the  conflict,  but  though  so 
far  victorious,  in  all  likeUhood  before  the  war  is  fin- 
ished, the  little  brown  men  will  pay  dearly  for  their 
fool-hardiness  in  becoming  the  tools  of  England. 

It  is  perfectly  clear  then  that  the  EngHsh  have  more 
than  their  share  of  envy  and  the  Irish  have  no  mo- 
nopoly of  this  despicable  vice.  Yet  it  is  unfortunately 
true  that  the  Irish  people  themselves  sometimes  lend 
coloring  to  this  accusation  by  their  petty  quarrels 
among  themselves  and  their  thoughtless  remarks 
about  one  another  in  the  presence  of  strangers.  It  is 
but  too  true  that  there  has  been  a  great  deal  of  civil 
dissensions  in  Ireland  from  the  time  Malachy  and 
Brian  Boru  fought  for  the  sovereignty  of  the  island 
down  to  the  five-cornered  wrangle  between  Sexton 
McCarthy,  Healy,  Dillon,  and  Redmond  to  determine 
who  should  be  the  leader  of  the  Irish  ParHamentary 
Party.  The  Irish  in  America  folded  their  arms  and 
looked  calmly  on  whilst  this  faction  fight  wasted  the 
strength  of  their  countrymen  at  home,  simply  protest- 
ing that  such  a  lamentable  state  of  things  could  never 
exist  amongst  themselves  in  this  enlightened  country. 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  211 

Yet  when  recently,  for  the  second  time  in  American 
History,  a  noble  Irishman  was  nominated  as  candidate 
for  Mayor  of  this  Puritan  City  of  Boston,  was  it  not 
another  member  of  his  own  race  that  stabbed  him  in 
the  back  and  for  a  time  impeded  his  advancement? 
But  it  was  only  for  a  brief  period,  because  Mr.  Collins 
has  since  been  twice  triumphantly  elected  by  such  a 
flattering  majority  of  votes  as  no  chief  magistrate  of 
the  city  ever  received  before,  whilst  the  man  who  be- 
trayed him  is  supposed  to  be  pohtically  dead  for  all 
future  time. 

However,  to  be  just  to  all  parties  concerned,  I  really 
believe  that  these  factional  brawls  of  our  race  spring 
not  from  envy  but  from  pride.  Though  the  EngHsh 
writer,  Thackeray,  on  his  visit  to  Ireland  got  the  im- 
pression that  the  Irish  were  too  humble,  being  lack- 
ing in  confidence,  and  self-assertiveness,  nevertheless 
some  individuals  of  our  race  are  proud  and  ambitious 
enough.  So  I  feel  quite  certain  that  no  Irishman 
ever  strikes  down  another  because  he  envies  him,  but 
simply  because,  through  a  fooHsh  pride,  he  imagines 
that  himself  is  the  better  man  and  consequently  more 
worthy  of  honor  and  position  than  his  neighbor. 

Sometimes,  too,  Irish-Americans  and  Irish  people 
who  have  been  here  for  a  long  time  give  a  very  bad  im- 
pression of  the  members  of  their  own  race  by  accusing 
them  of  envy  without  sufficient  grounds.  Because 
they  happen  to  have  been  born  here  or  to  have  become 
American  citizens  by  naturalization,  they  seem  to 
imagine  that  they  are  immeasurably  above  those  who 
only  recently  emigrated  from  Ireland.     If  in  the  course 


212  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

of  time  they  have  secured  a  good  position  or  accum- 
ulated a  little  property,  they  suspect  that  the  new  ar- 
rivals must  be  envious  of  them.  If  they  are  in  business 
and  have  a  little  store,  each  and  everyone  expects  every 
Irishman  to  trade  with  him  alone.  Otherwise  he  con- 
cludes that  they  are  jealous  of  him  and  refuse  him  their 
patronage  for  fear  he  might  become  too  wealthy.  But 
that  is  all  the  most  ridiculous  nonsense  imaginable. 
As  a  general  rule,  the  Irish  people,  wherever  they  may 
be,  like  everybody  else,  trade  where  they  receive  the 
best  goods  at  the  lowest  price.  Who  can  blame  them 
for  that  ?  Besides  many  of  them  are  poor  people  and 
have  only  small  purchases  to  make.  So  they  prefer  to 
go  where  they  are  not  known  at  all  in  order  that  their 
neighbors  may  not  know  all  about  their  business. 
Indeed,  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  some  store-keepers 
foolishly  gossip  about  the  business  of  their  customers. 
Consequently  it  is  no  wonder  that  some  people  prefer 
to  trade  with  strangers  rather  than  with  their  next- 
door  neighbors,  not  from  any  ill-will  or  envy,  however, 
but  simply  from  motives  of  prudence. 

If  Englishmen  were  estimated  by  the  same  standard 
with  which  Irishmen  are  judged,  how  frequently  we 
should  find  them  guilty  of  the  sin  of  envy!  Irishmen 
are  not  the  only  ones  who  quarrel  among  themselves. 
Englishmen,  too,  have  had  still  greater  intestine  wars 
and  civil  dissensions,  as  we  have  seen  in  Part  I.,  Chap- 
ter III.  But  it  is  not  at  all  necessary  to  go  back  to 
ancient  or  mediaeval  history  in  order  to  prove  this; 
for  have  not  English  statesmen  indulged  in  many  petty 
wrangles  and  jealousies  even  in  our  own  day  ? 


"   '  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  213 

Who  has  forgotten  the  famous  split  in  the  EngUsh 
Liberal  Party  a  few  years  ago  ?  If  Chamberlain  had 
been  an  Irishman  then,  he  might  have  been  accused  of 
being  envious  of  the  late  Mr.  Gladstone,  then  Prime 
Minister  of  England.  It  would  have  been  alleged  that 
his  object  in  withdrawing  from  his  former  associates 
and  forming  an  independent  party  was  to  drive  the 
"Grand  Old  Man"  out  of  office,  so  that  himself  might 
come  into  power  at  the  head  of  a  Unionist  ministry. 

Indeed,  if  the  late  Tory  leader.  Lord  Salsbury  him- 
self had  been  an  Irishman  it  would  have  been  asserted 
that  he  was  jealous  for  fear  Chamberlain  might  suc- 
ceed him  as  Premier  of  England,  so  the  wiley  old  Tory 
stole  a  march  on  the  Colonial  Secretary  by  taking  ad- 
vantage of  an  accident  which  befell  him,  to  resign 
from  office  and  have  his  own  nephew,  Mr.  Balfour, 
appointed  as  his  successor.  Then  the  gossips  would 
declare  how  bitterly  Chamberlain  resented  this  poli- 
tical strategem,  how  intensely  envious  of  the  new  Prime 
Minister  he  was,  and  how,  although  feigning  to  be 
his  greatest  friend,  he  was  in  reality  only  waiting  for 
the  very  first  opportunity  to  hurl  him  from  office  and 
get  his  position  himself.  No  doubt  they  would  have 
considered  their  surmises  completely  justified  when 
soon  afterwards  Chamberlain  began  agitating  for  the 
repeal  of  the  old  English  system  of  Free  Trade  and 
the  substitution  of  a  Tariff  like  that  of  the  United 
States. 

They  would  have  interpreted  this  as  a  clever  scheme 
of  Chamberlain  to  disrupt  the  old  Tory  Party,  as  he 
formerly  rent  the  Liberals,  to  cause  the  overthrow  of 


214  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Balfour's  ministry,  and  to  start  a  popular  movement 
which  would  land  himself  safely  on  the  Premier's 
chair,  on  the  crest  of  a  great  wave  of  national 
enthusiasm. 

Whether  these  conjectures  of  the  wiseacres  are  true 
or  false  we  are  not  prepared  to  say.  If  they  are  true, 
then  EngUshmen  are  capable  of  being  more  envious 
of  one  another,  in  a  subtle  way,  than  any  Irishman 
that  ever  lived.  If  they  are  false,  may  not  Irishmen 
have  been  also  falsely  accused  of  envy  in  a  similar 
manner?  Both  the  Irish  and  the  Enghsh,  therefore, 
should  be  careful  not  to  judge  one  another  rashly,  or 
without  sufficient  grounds,  for  rash  judgment  is  like 
a  two-edged  sword,  equally  destructive  to  the  fair 
name  of  the  Celt  and  the  Sax©n. 


CHAPTER  V. 
English  Unscrupulousness. 

IF  it  were  a  hidden  fault,  or  known  only  by  a  few, 
it  would  be  uncharitable  to  discuss  it,  but  as  it 
is  a  public  fact  known  all  over  the  world,  it  is 
no  harm  to  refer  to  what  everybody  knows,  that  Eng- 
land is  the  most  critical  and  censorious  nation  in  the 
whole  universe.  She  has  always  some  criticism  to 
pass  on  every  country  under  the  sun.  She  sees  some 
abuse  to  be  corrected,  some  wrong  to  be  righted,  some 
evil  to  be  reformed  everywhere.  At  one  time  she  is 
bewaihng  the  intemperance  and  envy  of  the  Irish 
people,  at  another  time  she  is  concerned  with  Russian 
barbarities  in  Siberia  and  Turkish  atrocities  in 
Armenia,  later  on  she  is  endeavoring  to  remedy  some 
evils  existing  in  South  Africa;  and  only  a  few  years  ago 
she  resolved  to  put  a  stop  to  the  lynching  of  Colored 
people  in  the  United  States,  so  that  as  the  poet  Kipling 
says:  "  She  has  had  to  bear  more  than  her  share  of  the 
'White  Man's  Burden.'" 

She  certainly  deser\'es  great  credit  for  her  endeavors 
to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  humanity,  to  spread 
the  blessings  of  civilization  and  "to  light  up  the  dark 
places  of  the  earth."  But  for  nothing  does  she  merit 
more  praise  than  for  her  effort  to  put  an  end  to  the 
savagery  practised  on  the  Negroes  of  the  South.  It  is 
certainly  high  time  that  something  should  be  done  to 
prevent  the  diabolical  practice  of  roasting  alive  any 


2i6  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

human  being,  whatever  his  color  or  whatever  his  crime, 
so  that  the  brutal  mulititude  may  enjoy  the  pleas- 
ure of  seeing  him  writhing  in  agony  in  the  midst  of  the 
flames  and  of  hearing  him  howling  piteously  for  mercy. 
Only  the  demons  of  hell  could  enjoy  such  pastime  as 
that,  and  it  is  an  eternal  shame  to  a  great  nation  like 
the  United  States  to  tolerate  that  which  would  not  be 
permitted  even  in  ''darkest  Africa."  If  the  American 
Government  will  not  stamp  out  at  any  cost  this  in- 
human practice,  there  is  great  danger  that  the  wrath 
of  God  may  fall  upon  it  and  blot  it  out  from  the  face 
of  the  earth  hke  Babylon  of  old.  Then  the  colored 
people  will  be  the  masters  where  they  are  now  worse 
than  slaves,  for,  by  the  providence  of  God,  no  people 
were  ever  yet  oppressed  who  did  not  finally  rise  supe- 
rior to  their  oppressors.  I  praise  England  for  interven- 
ing in  behalf  of  the  poor  down-trodden  Colored  people 
of  the  United  States,  but  I  condemn  her  for  backing 
down  just  as  soon  as  Uncle  Sam  told  her  to  mind  her 
own  business. 

Nevertheless,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  this  critical, 
censorious,  and  meddlesome  disposition  of  the  English 
people  stamps  them  immediately  as  a  very  proud,  vain 
conceited,  self-satisfied,  race,  as  has  been  abundantly 
attested  by  many  unquestionable  proofs  in  previous 
chapters.  The  great  pity  is  that  England  is  so  much 
taken  up  with  the  faults  of  her  neighbor  she  has  no 
time  to  consider  her  own  failings  at  all.  Hence  she 
imagines  that  all  the  other  nations  of  the  world  are 
full  of  defects  but  she  alone  is  perfect.  Like  the 
proud  Pharisee  of  old  strutting  boldly  into  the  temple, 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  217 

she  lifts  her  head  on  high  and  says:  "Thank  God  I  am 
not  Hke  the  rest  of  men.'* 

Yet  there  is  no  other  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
that  has  so  many  faults  to  be  corrected  and  so  many 
dark  pages  in  her  history  to  be  ashamed  of  as  this 
same  self-conceited,  self-sufficient  England.  If  she 
would  only  pause  for  a  few  moments  to  examine  her 
public  conscience  how  many  of  God's  holy  command- 
ments would  she  discover  that  she  has  violated! 
"Thou  shalt  not  kill"  has  no  meaning  for  her,  for  how 
often  has  she  sacrificed  thousands  of  lives  and  shed 
torrents  of  blood  in  many  an  unjust  war  of  criminal 
aggression!  "Thou  shalt  not  steal"  has  likewise  no 
significance  for  her.  She  considers  that  this  is  a  com- 
mandment intended  for  individuals  but  not  for  nations. 
In  her  blindness  she  seems  to  imagine  that  God  has 
one  code  of  morals  for  individuals  but  quite  a  different 
set  for  nations.  Hence,  according  to  EngUsh  law, 
for  the  individual  to  steal  a  few  pence  is  a  crime  to  be 
punished  by  imprisonment,  yet  England  herself  steals 
whole  nations  and  considers  it  no  crime  at  all.  "Thou 
shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor's  goods,"  she  thinks  is 
also  a  very  wise  regulation  to  govern  the  conduct  of 
one  citizen  towards  another,  but  when  did  England 
ever  allow  this  commandment  to  stand  in  her  way 
whenever  she  wished  to  get  possession  of  an  island  or 
a  country  anywhere  in  the  whole  world  ? 

But  probably  there  is  no  precept  of  the  whole  dec- 
alogue which  England  so  egregiously  violates  as  the 
eighth  commandment:  "Thou  shalt  not  bear  false 
witness  against  thy  neighbor.'* 


2i8  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

From  time  immemorial  as  soon  as  England  set  her 
covetous  eyes  on  any  territory  or  country  which,  she 
wished  to  seize  she  immediately  commenced  a  sys- 
tematic defamation  of  the  character  of  the  inhabitants. 
An  excellent  example  of  this  was  recently  afforded 
when  the  English  wanted  to  get  possession  of  the 
diamond  fields  of  the  Transvaal.  The  whole  British 
press  teemed  with  wholesale  Hbels  against  the  poor 
Boers.  They  were  described  as  a  rude,  savage  people 
who  should  be  wiped  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  The 
object  of  this  was  to  withdraw  from  them  the  moral 
support  of  mankind  and  to  arouse  against  them  the 
hostility  of  the  whole  human  race.  England  strove 
to  array  even  the  Irish  against  them  by  pubhshing 
broadcast  how  hostile  the  Boers  were  to  the  Catholic 
Church.  Yet  this  has  been  exactly  the  way  that  Eng- 
land has  been  treating  poor  Erin  herself  during  the 
last  seven  hundred  years. 

The  histor}^  of  Ireland  wTitten  by  English  historians 
is  nothing  more  or  less  than  a  base  caricature,  and 
they  have  painted  poor  Ireland  in  such  dark  colors 
that  she  would  not  be  recognized  by  her  best  friends. 
But  when  the  history  of  Ireland  is  re-written,  divested 
of  the  black  robe  of  calumny  which  enshrouds  her, 
and  clothed  in  the  bright  garb  of  truth,  she  will  ap- 
pear as  a  beautiful  queen  with  an  immaculate  robe, 
such  as  her  poets  are  fond  of  describing  her. 

How  strange  that  a  nation  like  England,  which 
claims  to  be  Christian,  should  thus  systematically 
violate  so  many  commandments  of  God  without  ap- 
parently the  least  scruple  of  conscience!    But,  if  the 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  219 

truth  must  be  told,  the  fact  is  that  since  the  Reform- 
ation, in  the  sixteenth  century,  England  has  been 
Christian  only  in  name.  Before  that,  the  Catholic 
Church  and  the  Popes  put  some  check  on  the  excesses 
of  the  nation,  but  since  then  there  has  been  no  restraint 
on  her  whatever.  Accordingly,  during  the  last  three 
centuries,  England  has  been  the  most  unscrupulous 
country  in  the  world.  She  has  acted  as  if  the  only 
commandment  of  God  was:  ''Get  rich  and  accu- 
mulate wealth."  In  fapt  she  seems  to  have  forgotten 
God  entirely,  and  to  have  set  up  as  a  Deity  in  His 
place  material  prosperity  and  lust  of  empire,  as  the 
Israelites  of  old  worshipped  the  golden  calf  in  the 
desert.  But  worst  of  all,  England  has  stopped  at 
nothing,  whether  fair  means  or  foul,  in  order  to  ac- 
complish her  designs.  If  we  were  to  trace  out  the 
various  steps  by  which  she  has  built  up  her  vast  em- 
pire during  the  past  three  hundred  years,  we  should 
be  overwhelmed  by  one  continual  story  of  the  most 
unblushing  hypocrisy,  the  vilest  perfidy,  the  most 
shocking  conspiracy,  and  the  most  impious  sacrilege. 
A  certain  poet  has  said  that 

"For  ways  that  are  dark 
And  tricks  that  are  vain 
The  heathen  Chinee  is  peculiar." 

However,  this  is  far  more  true  of  the  EngHsh  than  of 
the  Chinese.  England  is  the  most  hypocritical  nation 
on  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  most  superficial  knowl- 
edge of  her  history  will  show  how  in  getting  possession 


220  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

of  her  vast  empire,  one  fragment  after  another,  this 
consummate  hypocrite  never  yet  acknowledged  before- 
hand that  she  was  bent  on  foreign  conquest.  Ohl 
no.  That  might  arouse  against  her  the  sentiment  of 
humanity.  So  she  was  always  careful  first  to  invent 
some  plausible  excuse  to  cover  up  her  robbery.  She 
usually  pretended  that  her  object  was  to  reform  some 
abuse,  to  stop  the  civil  dissensions  of  the  natives,  or 
to  spread  the  light  of  civiUzation  and  the  blessings  of 
Christianity. 

It  was  thus  that  she  took  possession  of  Ireland  and 
India.  So,  in  a  similar  manner  she  lately  seized  upon 
the  Transvaal,  under  the  pretext  of  redressing  the 
grievances  of  her  subjects  who  resided  there.  Just 
now,  in  the  very  midst  of  a  peace  congress  in  this  coun- 
try she  is  anxious  to  discuss  some  alleged  cruelties  of 
Belgium  towards  the  Negroes  of  the  Congo.  It  would 
be  safe  to  wager  ten  to  one  that  England  has  her  cove- 
tous eye  also  on  that  country.  What  consummate  hypo- 
crites and  knaves  these  English  people  are  1  Nobody 
but  an  Englishman  could  fill  the  role  of  Uriah  Heap, 
so  well  portrayed  by  Dickens  in  "David  Copperfield." 
Hypocrisy  seems  to  come  naturally  to  the  EngHsh. 
Even  Henry  VIII.,  that  monster  incarnate,  tried  to 
cloak  over  his  sensuality  under  the  guise  of  religious 
scruples.  It  is  also  a  matter  of  history  how  "good 
Queen  Bess,"  as  the  EngHsh  call  her,  signed  the  death- 
warrant  of  her  cousin,  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  yet  after- 
wards raised  her  hands  to  heaven,  calling  God  to  wit- 
ness that  she  had  never  ordered  her  execution.  But 
the  greatest  hypocrite  of  all  was  Cromwell,  with  the 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  221 

sword  in  one  hand,  the  Bible  in  the  other,  and  prayers 
on  his  lips  as  he  was  slaughtering  in  cold  blood  the 
defenceless  women  and  helpless  babies  in  Ireland. 

A  great  many  changes  have  occurred  since  then,  but 
England  is  to-day  the  same  old  hypocrite  as  ever. 
Everybody  knows  that  it  was  she  who  instigated  the 
war  in  the  East  between  Japan  and  Russia,  and  now, 
whilst  the  advantage  is  in  favor  of  her  ally,  she  would 
like  to  bind  her  rival's  hands,  so  as  to  keep  them  off 
India.  So  she  has  just  sent  out  to  the  United  States 
her  messengers  and  holy  men  to  appeal  to  the  tender 
spot  in  Uncle  Sam's  heart  to  stop  the  cruel  w'ar  in  the 
East,  because  poor,  sensitive  England  is  horrified  at 
the  shedding  of  so  much  innocent  blood.  But  why 
did  she  not  send  her  peace  messengers  out  here  whilst 
she  was  making  war  on  the  Boers,  or  still  more  recently 
on  the  peaceful  inhabitants  of  Thibet  ?  If  the  crafty 
hypocrite  could  only  now  inveigle  the  United  States 
into  a  treaty  of  arbitration  with  her,  which  she  could 
use  as  a  sort  of  club  over  the  head  of  Russia  in  the 
East,  England  would  be  quite  happy.  She  would 
represent  to  all  the  nations  of  Europe  that  she  had 
entered  into  an  alliance  with  the  great  American  Re- 
public, and  she  would  become  more  brazen  than  ever 
in  her  evil  ways. 

Not  only  did  England  employ  the  most  consummate 
hypocrisy  in  the  accompHshment  of  her  designs,  but 
likewise  the  most  despicable  perfidy,  in  the  violation 
of  her  most  solemn  treaties.  In  all  ages,  even  in 
Pagan  times,  all  nations  have  regarded  a  treaty  as 
something  sacred  and  inviolable.  No  greater  reproach 


222  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

could  be  heaped  upon  any  country  than  to  taunt  it 
with  the  least  infraction  of  a  treaty.  "Punica  fides" 
was  the  most  shameful  epithet  which  the  Romans 
could  hurl  at  the  Carthaginians  of  old  for  their  alleged 
breach  of  faith.  But  what  was  that  to  the  perfidy 
of  England  towards  Ireland?  She  has  broken  faith 
with  our  Irish  forefathers  more  than  once.  In  order  to 
put  an  end  to  the  rebellion  of  the  Irish  under  Hugh 
O  'Neil,  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  England  was 
obliged  to  guarantee  by  treaty  to  the  Irish  chieftains  the 
full  and  free  possession  of  all  their  lands  and  estates. 
But  a  little  thing  Uke  a  treaty  was  not  to  stand  in  the 
way  of  England.  Nevertheless,  she  did  not  wish  to 
incur  the  odium  of  breaking  it.  So,  soon  after  the 
Irish  had  laid  down  their  arms,  the  English  Govern- 
ment trumped  up  against  the  Irish  chiefs  a  charge  of 
conspiracy  and  high  treason,  in  w^hich  an  anonymous 
letter  figured  very  prominently.  Realizing  that  their 
doom  was  sealed,  the  gallant  O'Neil  and  other  Irish 
chieftains  fled  to  the  continent — the  very  thing  which 
the  English  wanted.  After  their  departure  the  British 
Government  confiscated  their  estates  and  parceled 
them  out  among  greedy  English  adventurers. 

But  still  more  flagrant  was  the  violation  by  England 
of  the  Treaty  of  Limerick,  negotiated  with  the  Irish 
during  the  reign  of  William  of  Orange.  This  also 
guaranteed  to  our  ancestors  the  full  possession  of 
their  property.  However,  just  after  the  articles  of 
capitulation  had  been  signed,  but  before  the  Irish  had 
laid  down  their  arms,  a  large  French  fleet  laden  with 
men,  arms,  and  ammunition  sailed  up  the  Shannon 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  223 

to  the  relief  of  our  forefathers.  The  English  General 
was  now  filled  with  the  greatest  alarm  lest  the  Irish 
might  disregard  the  terms  of  the  treaty  and  again  fly 
to  arms.  But  the  Irish  leader,  Patrick  Sarsfield, 
said:  "No!  Our  faith  is  plighted.  Though  a  hun- 
dred thousand  Frenchmen  came  to  our  assistance 
we  cannot  break  our  word  now."  So  the  gallant 
Irish  commander  and  his  army  surrendered  accord- 
ing to  their  agreement;  but  rather  than  remain 
under  English  tyranny  they  sailed  away  on  the  fleet 
which  had  come  to  succor  them,  and  enlisted  in  the 
service  of  the  King  of  France. 

However,  it  was  not  the  Irish  but  the  English  that 
were  to  break  this  solemn  compact.  Scarcely  had 
the  Irish  warriors  taken  their  departure  when  Eng- 
land shamefully  violated  the  Treaty  of  Limerick,  as 
the  Irish  chronicles  say:  "before  the  ink  wherewith 
'twas  writ  was  dry."  But  some  years  afterwards, 
whilst  England  was  at  war  with  France,  these  Irish 
exiles  made  the  English  pay  dearly  for  their  perfidy, 
when  they  defeated  them  at  the  battle  of  Fontenoy; 
and  as  the  Irish  brigade  came  thundering  down 
upon  the  English  army,  their  battle-cry  was:  "Re- 
member Limerick  and  the  broken  treaty!" 

What  wonder  that  the  Irish  people  have  ever 
since  distrusted  England  even  to  the  present  day! 
What  wonder  that  there  is  a  proverb  in  Ireland 
which  says:  "Beware  of  the  smile  of  an  Englishman 
as  you  would  of  the  snarl  of  a  dog!"  Well-disposed 
Englishmen  of  the  present  day  are  sometimes  astonish- 
ed that  the  Irish  people  look  on  them  with  such  an  evil 


224  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

eye.  But  there  is  a  cause  for  everything.  So  all  this 
distrust  and  suspicion  on  the  part  of  the  Irish  towards 
England  is  due  to  her  unpardonable  violation  of  the 
most  solemn  treaties  in  the  past. 

Not  merely  has  England  shown  her  unscrupulous- 
ness  by  the  most  unblushing  perfidy  towards  the  Irish, 
but  also  by  the  blackest  and  foulest  conspiracies  ever 
concocted  by  man  since  Judas  betrayed  his  Master. 
Just  because  on  one  occasion  an  English  Catholic, 
driven  to  desperation  by  persecution,  resolved  to  blow 
up  the  EngHsh  House  of  Parliament,  whenever  after- 
wards any  EngHsh  adventurers  wished  to  get  posses- 
sion of  some  fertile  lands  in  Ireland,  they  simply  raised 
a  great  hue  and  cry  about  an  alleged  "Terrible  Popish 
Massacre  of  the  English  Colonists  in  Ireland  by  their 
Celtic  Neighbors."  Straightway  the  whole  public 
opinion  of  England  was  lashed  into  a  dreadful  fury 
by  these  tidings,  an  English  army  was  despatched 
immediately  into  Ireland  to  avenge  the  supposed  mass- 
acre, and  before  the  truth  was  discovered,  torrents 
of  innocent  Irish  blood  were  shed.  After  the  carnage 
was  over  the  vile  conspirators  who  had  concocted  the 
whole  scheme,  came  over  quietly  from  England  and 
took  possession  of  the  rich  Irish  estates  whose  owners 
had  fallen  victims  to  their  plot. 

The  first  of  these  diabolical  conspiracies  was  con- 
cocted during  the  reign  of  King  Charles  I.,  and  it 
brought  upon  Ireland  all  the  butcheries  of  Crom- 
well, along  with  the  confiscation  of  three-fourths  of  the 
whole  island  for  the  plunder  of  his  Puritan  followers. 
The  second  conspiracy  was  the  direct  result  of  the 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  225 

first.  At  the  restoration  of  King  Charles  II.,  the 
Cromwellians  were  seized  with  a  mortal  terror  lest 
he  might  compel  them  to  restore  their  plundered  Irish 
estates  to  their  lawful  Irish  owners.  To  prevent  such 
a  calamity  they  employed  an  infamous  wretch  called 
Titus  Gates  to  fabricate  the  story  of  another  great 
Popish  massacre  of  Protestants  in  Ireland.  Strange 
to  say,  the  Enghsh,  who  boast  of  being  so  cool-headed 
and  shrewd,  had  learned  nothing  from  the  imposition 
akeady  practiced  upon  them  by  the  story  of  the  first 
massacre.  They  became  now  more  furious  than  ever 
and  once  more  shed  torrents  of  innocent  Irish  blood. 
But,  most  disgraceful  of  all  was  the  execution  of  the 
saintly  Archbishop  Plunkett,  Primate  of  Ireland,  a 
man  highly  respected  even  by  many  Irish  Protestants. 
Though  entirely  guiltless  even  of  the  very  shadow  of  a 
crime,  he  became  a  victim  to  Enghsh  popular  fury  and 
was  legally  murdered  by  being  hanged,  beheaded, 
quartered,  and  disemboweled  amidst  the  yells  of  the 
London  populace,  July  r,  1681.  Even  Englishmen 
themselves  are  now  thoroughly  ashamed  of  this  dis- 
graceful proceeding  and  the  great  Enghsh  historian, 
Charles  James  Fox,  declared  that  "The  Popish  plot 
story  must  always  be  considered  an  indelible  disgrace 
on  the  English  nation."  However,  what  did  the  con- 
spirators care  about  the  shedding  of  innocent  blood 
and  the  murder  of  the  noble  and  true!  They  had 
gained  their  point,  being  allowed  to  remain  in  posses- 
sion of  their  ill-gotten  goods.  So  they  and  their  de- 
scendants have  ever  since  been  recognized  as  the 
Landlords  of  Ireland,  whilst  the  original  owners  of 


226  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

the  soil  were  reduced  to  the  condition  of  menials  and 
serfs.  Indeed  the  Land  Purchase  Act  recently  enacted 
in  the  British  ParHament,  and  so  ostentatiously  pa- 
raded as  a  special  favor  from  the  English  Government, 
is  nothing  more  or  less  than  a  cool  proposition  from 
the  English  robber  to  sell  back  to  the  original  Irish 
owners  the  very  identical  property  which  he  once  stole 
from  them.  That  very  property  they  are  now  ex- 
pected to  buy  back  with  interest,  in  twenty  annual 
payments.  Can  we  imagine  any  transaction  more 
unscrupulous  than  this? 

Yet  the  crowning  proof  of  EngHsh  unscrupulous- 
ness  was  exhibited  in  this  Western  Continent  a  few 
centuries  ago,  and  that  was  indeed  the  worst  specimen 
of  falsehood,  deceit,  dupHcity,  dissimulation,  treach- 
ery and  horrid  sacrilege  that  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
In  all  ages,  religious  edifices  have  been  looked  upon 
as  something  sacred,  holy,  and  inviolable.  Even  in 
Pagan  times,  the  man  who  took  refuge  in  a  heathen 
temple  was  safe  from  all  his  pursuers.  But  it  was  the 
CathoUc  Church  which  brought  this  noblest  institu- 
tion of  Paganism  to  perfection.  Accordingly,  every 
Christian  Church  became  a  sanctuary  of  refuge  for 
the  down-trodden  and  the  oppressed  of  all  nations. 
Within  its  sacred  precincts  no  tyrant  dared  to  lay  a 
violent  hand.  Tyranny  stood  helpless  at  the  door. 
But  it  was  reserved  for  unscrupulous  England  to  set 
a  contrary  example  of  profanation  and  sacrilege  for 
which  the  world  has  no  parallel. 

A  few  centuries  ago,  there  lived  in  what  is  now 
called  Nova  Scotia,  a  settlement  of  French  colonists, 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  227 

called  Acadians.  They  were  peaceful,  honest,  and 
industrious,  loyal  to  God  and  to  France,  attending 
strictly  to  business  and  harming  nobody.  Their  only 
crime  was  that  they  refused  to  swear  allegiance  to 
England.  So,  on  a  certain  day,  the  EngHsh  Gov- 
ernor, who  had  taken  possession  of  the  colony  in  the 
name  of  England,  summoned  all  the  inhabitants,  who 
were  devout  Catholics  into  the  Catholic  church,  to 
hear  a  royal  proclamation.  But  no  sooner  had  they 
entered  the  sacred  edifice  than  it  was  surrounded  by 
English  soldiers  and  all  the  people  were  declared 
prisoners.  Then  husbands  were  separated  from  their 
wives,  brothers  from  their  sisters,  parents  from  their 
children,  and  scattered  all  over  what  is  now  the 
United  States.  Many  of  them  spent  a  whole  hfe-time 
seeking  to  be  reunited  with  those  who  were  dear  to 
them,  and  who  can  tell  how  many  broken  hearts  were 
the  consequence?  Longfellow's  beautiful  poem, 
of  Evangeline,  is  founded  on  that  sad  event.  Nobody 
can  read  these  sublime  verses  without  a  strong  feeling 
of  righteous  indignation  against  perfidious,  treach- 
erous, sacrilegious  England,  which  did  not  scruple  to 
use  even  the  Church  as  a  cloak  for  her  nefarious  de- 
signs. 

What  chance  has  a  conscientious  nation  like  Ireland 
to  compete  with  such  an  unscrupulous  foe?  If  a 
prize  were  to  be  awarded  for  proficiency  in  unscrup- 
ulousness,  England  would  easily  carry  off  the  palm. 
Ireland  would  appear  at  a  great  disadvantage  beside 
her.  The  great  trouble  with  poor  Ireland  has  always 
been  that  she  was  too  conscientious.    While  the  Eng- 


328  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

lish  have  been  waging  unjust  wars  and  slaughtering 
people  by  the  thousands  during  the  last  fifteen  cent- 
uries at  least,  the  Irish  people  have  never  lifted  the 
sword  except  in  self-defence  or  for  the  recovery  of  their 
independence.  In  private  life,  it  is  very  seldom  that 
they  seek  to  be  revenged  even  on  those  who  have  most 
grievously  wronged  them.  How  frequently  do  we 
not  hear  good,  old  Irish  people  say:  "Leave  them  to 
God."  Whilst  the  EngHsh  would  not  scruple  to  seize 
upon  the  whole  world,  the  Irish  people  covet  no  man's 
property,  they  seek  for  nothing  but  their  own  inalien- 
able God-given  rights — Hfe,  Hberty,  and  happiness. 
Indeed,  it  is  a  matter  of  history  that  during  the  dread- 
ful famine  of  1847,  the  Irish  peasants  would  not  steal 
even  a  loaf  of  bread  to  save  themselves  from  starvation, 
although  it  is  always  perfectly  legitimate  to  appropriate 
whatever  is  necessary  to  preserve  one's  Hfe. 

What  is  the  cause  of  this  wonderful  disparity  in  the 
principles  and  conduct  of  these  two  neighboring  races  ? 
It  is  all  summed  up  in  one  word — religion.  The 
Irish  are  an  extremely  reUgious  people  and  have  always 
preserved  the  true  faith  taught  them  by  their  glorious 
Apostle,  St.  Patrick.  That  is  why  they  possess  such 
an  extraordinarily  deUcate  conscience.  That  is  why 
they  scruple  to  do  wrong.  That  is  frequently  the 
reason  why  they  do  not  succeed  better  in  business, 
because  they  are  so  honest. 

On  the  other  hand,  that  England  might  not  be  im- 
peded by  the  wholesome  restraints  of  the  true  religion, 
she  cast  off  entirely  all  allegiance  to  the  Catholic 
Church,   in   the   sixteenth   century.     Poor,   deluded 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  229 

Englishmen  imagined  that  this  was  a  revolt  only 
against  the  Pope,  but  in  reality  it  was  the  rebellion 
against  Almighty  God  Himself  foretold  centuries  pre- 
viously by  the  royal  prophet  in  Ps.  II.-2 :  ''The  kings  of 
the  earth  stood  up  and  the  princes  met  together  against 
the  Lord  and  against  His  Christ,  (saying)  'Let  us 
break  their  bonds  asunder  and  let  us  cast  away  their 
yoke  from  us.'"  Thanks  be  to  God,  Ireland  had  no 
part  in  this  uprising  against  the  Most  High.  So  in 
the  following  chapter  we  shall  speak  more  at  length 
of  "the  ever  faithful  isle  and  the  land  of  infidelity." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The    Ever-Faithful    Isle    and    the   Land   of 
Infk)elity. 

WE  should  have  only  a  very  unperfect  idea,  in- 
deed, of  the  lofty  character  of  the  Irish  people 
if  we  were  to  omit  a  description  of  their  un- 
swerving devotion  to  their  religion  and  to  God.  Fidel- 
ity is  considered  one  of  the  highest  of  natural  virtues, 
and  is  highly  prized  everywhere  in  the  dealings  of  man 
with  his  fellow-men.  Where  is  the  good,  faithful  ser- 
vant who  is  not  duly  appreciated  by  his  grateful 
master  ?  Where  is  the  public  official  whose  invincible 
fidelity  to  duty  is  not  applauded  by  his  constituents  ? 
But  if  thus  we  regard  the  fidelity  of  men  towards  their 
fellow-creatures,  what  should  we  think  of  the  incom- 
parable fidelity  of  a  whole  race  to  Almighty  God 
Himself? 

But  never  yet  has  this  earth  witnessed  a  race  more 
faithful  to  their  holy  rehgion  and  to  God  than  the  Irish 
people  have  been  for  the  last  fifteen  hundred  years. 
For  fifteen  centuries  they  have  been  always  faithful 
to  the  teachings  of  their  glorious  Apostle,  St.  Patrick, 
and  have  always  preserved  the  faith  which  he  be- 
queathed to  them  pure  and  uncorrupted.  If  St. 
Patrick  were  to  rise  from  the  dead  to-day  and  revisit  his 
spiritual  children,  he  would  find  them  professing  the 
very  self-same  doctrines  which  he  taught  them  in  the 
fifth  century.     This  unparalleled  fidelity  to  their  re- 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  231 

ligion  and  their  God  is  the  glory  and  crown  of  our 
race.  It  is  their  proud  boast  that  no  heresy  and  no 
schism  can  claim  Ireland  as  the  land  of  their  birth, 
and  no  Irishman  was  ever  a  heresiarch,  or  founder 
of  a  heretical  sect.  Even  France,  "the  eldest  daughter 
of  the  Church"  has  had  her  heresy  called  Jansenism, 
after  Jansenius,  its  author,  but  Ireland  never.  It  is 
quite  true,  the  Enghsh  sometimes  claim  that  Pelagius, 
one  of  the  heretics  of  the  fifth  century,  was  of  Irish 
birth,  but  there  is  the  most  overwhelming  evidence 
that  he  was  a  native  of  Britain. 

Not  only  has  Ireland  been  ever  faithful  to  her  holy 
religion,  but  also  ever  loyal  to  the  See  of  Peter.  As  we 
glance  down  through  the  ages  over  the  pages  of  history, 
we  find  that  Ireland  never  had  any  serious  difference 
with  the  Church  of  Rome.  She  never  had  but  one 
small  controversy  with  the  Apostolic  See,  and  that  was 
over  the  proper  time  for  celebrating  Easter.  But  this 
was  rather  a  matter  of  discipline  than  of  faith,  and 
indeed  more  of  an  astronomical  calculation  than  either. 
In  fact  the  Church  itself  was  for  some  time  divided  on 
that  question,  some  Christians  following  the  custom 
of  St.  John,  others  that  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.  But 
all  Christians,  the  Irish  included,  finally  adopted  the 
usage  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  ever  since  our  race 
has  always  been  the  vanguard  of  the  faith. 

England,  Ukewise,  received  the  true  faith  from  the 
very  same  source  as  Ireland,  being  evangelized  by  St. 
Augustine,  a  missionary  sent  from  Rome  by  Pope 
Gregory  the  Great,  in  the  sixth  century.  Though  the 
English  never  displayed  half  the  fidehty  manifested 


232  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

by  the  Irish  to  their  holy  religion,  to  give  our  Anglo- 
Saxon  cousins  their  due,  we  must  acknowledge  that 
they  persevered  in  the  faith  for  about  a  thousand  years, 
until  in  the  sixteenth  century  they  ignobly  surrendered 
their  Christian  heritage  at  the  dictation  of  that  impious 
tyrant,  King  Henry  VIII. 

Superficial  observers  might  imagine  that  the  Eng- 
lish Reformation  was  a  great  religious  revolution  sud- 
denly effected  by  the  mere  arbitrary  will  of  a  sensual 
monarch,  but  a  closer  examination  will  convince  any- 
one that  the  seeds  of  that  great  apostacy  had  been 
planted  long  before.  As  long  as  England  was  a  poor, 
weak,  second-rate  power  she  remained  loyal  to  the 
true  faith  and  was  known  throughout  Europe  as  the 
"Dowry  of  Mary."  But  with  the  arrival  of  the  Nor- 
mans many  new  elements  were  infused  into  the  Eng- 
lish character  that  were  very  deleterious  to  the  faith. 

The  Normans,  having  conquered  the  Saxons,  were 
a  very  proud,  haughty,  and  self-sufficient  race.  But 
what  room  is  there  in  a  proud  heart  for  the  religion 
of  the  lowly  Nazarene,  Who  had  not  a  place  whereon 
to  lay  His  head  and  Whose  fundamental  doctrine  was: 
** Learn  of  Me,  for  I  am  meek  and  humble  of  heart." 
The  most  superficial  study  must  convince  anyone  that 
there  is  much  in  the  Enghsh  character  totally  at  var- 
iance with  Our  Divine  Saviour's  teachings.  He 
taught  His  followers  to  humble  themselves,  and  be- 
come as  little  children,  but  how  incompatible  is  this 
with  English  deceit,  perfidy,  hypocrisy,  and  unscrupu- 
lousness  described  in  the  previous  chapter! 

Moreover,  Our  Blessed  Redeemer  commanded  His 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  233 

disciples  to  practice  self-denial,  saying:  "If  any  man 
will  come  after  Me  let  him  deny  himself;  for  he  that 
will  not  deny  himself  cannot  be  My  disciple."  But 
how  completely  opposed  to  this  is  the  grasping  avaric- 
ious spirit  of  the  EngHsh!  When  did  the  English 
people  ever  deny  themselves  anything?  Would  they 
not  take  possession  of  the  whole  world  if  they  could  ? 
Just  as  soon  as  they  set  their  covetous  eyes  on  any- 
thing do  they  not  resort  to  the  blackest  conspiracy  in 
order  to  attain  it,  even  though  thereby  they  should 
defame  the  character  of  a  whole  race  or  shed  a  torrent 
of  innocent  blood?  What  does  it  all  matter  if  they 
only  accomplish  their  designs? 

It  is  very  evident,  therefore,  that  EngUsh  character 
is  a  very  poor  foundation  on  which  to  erect  the  mag- 
nificent edifice  of  the  true  faith.  ReHgion  Hke  a  house, 
needs  a  foundation  on  which  to  rest.  If  a  building 
has  not  a  good,  firm  foundation,  it  comes  tumbling 
down  upon  the  heads  of  its  occupants.  So  the  super- 
natural virtues  must  be  built  upon  the  natural,  and 
faith  must  be  well-grounded  upon  humihty.  Other- 
wise it  will  sooner  or  later  fall  to  the  ground,  for  humil- 
ity is  the  very  foundation  of  all  rehgion  and  of  all  vir- 
tue. There  is  no  doubt  whatsoever  that  this  is  the 
real  secret  why  the  English  people  lost  the  faith  in  the 
sixteenth  century.  It  was  primarily  on  account  of 
their  pride.  Just  as  God  punished  the  rebel  angels  for 
this  deadly  sin,  so  for  a  similar  reason  He  took  away  the 
gift  of  faith  entirely  from  the  whole  English  race.  If 
they  had  been  worthy  of  that  heavenly  gift,  Henry  VIII. 
would  never  have  been  able  to  filch  it  away  from  them. 


234  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Lord  still  preserves  the  faith 
in  the  hearts  of  the  Irish  people  as  a  reward  for  their 
humility.  It  is  true,  our  race  is  sometimes  accused  of 
pride  but  it  is  generally  in  the  best  sense  of  that  word, 
as  the  synonyme  of  self-respect.  In  reality  the  Irish 
people  are  the  humblest  race  in  the  world.  The  great 
English  writer,  Thackeray,  in  his  Irish  Sketch  Book, 
marvels  at  their  humility  and  relates  how  in  travelling 
through  Ireland  the  natives  frequently  asked  him  how 
he  Hked  their  country  and  how  pleased  they  were 
when  he  repUed  in  the  affirmative,  "as  if"  he  says, 
"you — because  an  Englishman — must  be  somebody, 
and  they  only  the  dust  of  the  earth." 

What  wonder  that  the  faith  of  the  Irish  people  is  so 
enduring,  when  it  is  built  on  the  virtue  of  true  humiHty ! 
It  is  like  the  house  mentioned  in  the  gospel  which  the 
wise  man  built  upon  a  rock.  "And  the  storms  came, 
and  the  winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that  house,  and  it 
fell  not,  because  it  was  built  upon  a  rock."  But  the 
Catholic  faith  of  the  Enghsh  was  like  the  house  built 
by  the  fool  upon  the  sands.  "And  the  storms  came, 
and  the  winds  blew  and  beat  upon  that  house  and  it 
fell,  and  great  was  the  fall  thereof." 

But  even  though  Catholicity  in  England  rested  on 
such  an  unstable  foundation,  there  was  hardly  an 
English  king  from  William  the  Conqueror  down  to 
Henry  VIII.  who  did  not  do  something  during  his 
reign  to  undermine  its  tottering  basis.  Scarcely  were 
the  Norman  sovereigns  firmly  seated  on  the  throne  of 
England  when  they  commenced  to  interfere  with  the 
freedom  of  the  Church  and  to  impede  it  in  the  exercise 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  235 

of  its  sacred  functions.  They  all  wanted  to  control 
the  Church  as  well  as  the  State.  It  seemed  as  if  their 
ambition  was  to  be  Pope  and  King  at  the  same  time. 
They  were  constantly  meddling,  especially  in  the  elec- 
tion of  bishops,  and  more  than  once  endeavored  to 
force  one  of  their  ow^n  unworthy  favorites  upon  the 
Church.  They  sometimes  went  even  so  far  as  to 
keep  a  See  vacant  for  a  long  time  after  the  death  of  a 
bishop  so  that  themselves  might  receive  the  diocesan 
revenues.  All  these  things  naturally  brought  them 
frequently  into  collision  with  the  Popes,  who  were 
determined  to  maintain  the  rights  and  freedom  of  the 
Church  at  any  cost.  Accordingly,  on  one  occasion, 
Pope  Innocent  III.  had  to  excommunicate  King  John 
and  place  his  kingdom  under  interdict  for  his  inter- 
ference in  the  election  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury. At  another  time,  King  Henry  II.  was  threat- 
ened with  the  anathemas  of  the  Church  for  having 
by  his  intemperate  language  caused  the  death  of  St. 
Thomas  a  Becket. 

This  continual  clash  between  Church  and  State 
created  a  very  bitter  feehng  in  England  and  paved  the 
way  for  the  Reformation  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
When  a  fine,  stately  mansion  falls  down  during  a  storm 
many  people  express  their  astonishment  that  what  ap- 
peared to  be  such  a  strong,  substantial  edifice  should 
yield  to  such  a  sHght  cause.  But  keener  observers 
might  perceive  that  for  a  long  time  previous  the  floods 
had  been  undermining  the  foundation  of  that  splendid 
structure,  until  finally  some  unusual  pressure  caused 
the  whole  building  to  collapse.     It  was  thus  that  Eng- 


236  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXOiW 

land  fell  away  from  the  faith  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
During  the  previous  centuries  the  process  of  under- 
mining the  faith  of  the  English  people  was  carried 
steadily  on  by  their  rulers.  Yet  all  that  time  England 
appeared  to  be  a  splendid  tower  of  Christianity.  Only 
just  before  the  Reformation  broke  out  in  England,  the 
Pope  himself  bestowed  on  the  Enghsh  king,  Henry 
VIII.,  the  title  of  "Defender  of  the  Faith,"  when  all  at 
once  the  crash  came  like  Ughtning  from  a  clear  sky. 
England  first  fell  into  schism,  next  into  apostacy,  and 
then  into  infidehty,  as  Lucifer,  hke  a  faUing  star,  fell 
down  from  heaven  into  the  dreadful  abyss  of  hell. 

The  fatal  day  had  come  at  last.  The  "Defender 
of  the  Faith"  after  living  with  his  lawful  wife,  Cath- 
arine of  Arragon,  for  twenty  years,  set  his  lustful 
eyes  upon  her  beautiful  servant  maid,  Anne  Boleyn. 
So  the  hypocritical  monarch  immediately  pretended 
to  have  conscientious  scruples  about  the  vahdity  of 
his  first  marriage,  and  applied  to  the  Pope  for  its  an- 
nulment. What  would  not  the  sovereign  Pontiff  re- 
ceive if  he  would  only  gratify  the  king's  wishes  ?  All 
the  treasures  of  England  would  be  lavished  on  him 
w^th  a  royal  hand.  But  what  would  be  the  result  if 
the  tyrant's  request  should  be  refused?  Then  Eng- 
land might  rush  into  the  arms  of  the  German  reformers 
and  the  whole  kingdom  lost  to  the  Cathohc  Church. 
Yet,  to  his  everlasting  honor,  the  Pope  preferred  to  see 
a  whole  nation  lost  to  him  rather  than  do  wrong,  or 
sacrifice  the  rights  of  a  sohtary,  helpless  woman. 

"Your  majesty,"  said  he  in  his  message  to  Henry 
VIII. ,  "if  I  had  two  souls  I  might  sacrifice  one  for 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  237 

your  sake,  but  as  I  have  only  one  I  must  endeavor  to 
save  that."  So  he  refused  to  grant  the  divorce  which 
King  Henry  asked  for. 

However,  hke  a  true  EngUshman,  totally  unscrupu- 
lous about  the  means  of  accomplishing  his  designs, 
the  EngHsh  monarch  was  not  to  be  frustrated  in  his 
purpose.  So  he  determined  to  push  the  Pope  aside, 
to  become  Pope  himself,  and  then  he  could  grant  him- 
self as  many  divorces  as  he  wished  and  take  as  many 
wives  as  he  pleased.  He  therefore  cast  off  all  alle- 
giance to  the  Pope  entirely,  and  under  the  severest 
penalty  commanded  all  his  subjects  to  follow  his  ex- 
ample. What  can  we  think  of  the  manhood  of  the 
EngUsh  people  when  the  great  majority  of  them  bowed 
down  before  his  imperious  commands?  Yet,  to  the 
honor  of  Enghshmen,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that 
all  of  them  did  not  tamely  submit  to  the  dictates  of 
the  impious  tyrant.  Some  of  them  rose  in  rebellion 
against  his  bold  innovations,  and  in  defence  of  their 
holy  faith.  But  he  put  down  the  insurrection  with 
relentless  cruelty  and  forty  thousand  Englishmen 
suffered  death  as  traitors  during  his  reign,  for  opposing 
his  royal  wishes.  Besides,  he  caused  the  learned 
Bishop  Fisher  and  the  saintly  Thomas  More,  two  of 
the  grandest  characters  that  the  world  has  ever  seen, 
to  be  cruelly  beheaded  for  opposing  his  divorce  from 
Catharine  of  Arragon.  Moreover,  he  had  Father 
Forest,  confessor  to  Queen  Catharine,  barbarously 
burned  at  the  stake  for  denying  his  spiritual  suprem- 
acy over  the  English  nation.  Thus  he  imposed  his 
despotic  will  upon  his  Anglo-Saxon  subjects. 


238  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

King  Henry  VIII.  now  turned  his  attention  to  Ire- 
land and  did  his  utmost  to  introduce  the  Reformation 
into  that  country,  but  his  attempt  was  a  woful  failure. 
Despite  all  his  threats,  bribes,  flattery,  promises  of 
wealth,  honors,  and  distinctions,  not  a  baker's  dozen 
of  the  Irish  people  turned  perverts  and  the  great 
bulk  of  them  remained  loyal  to  the  faith  of  their 
forefathers. 

During  the  reign  of  his  daughter,  Queen  Elizabeth, 
a  still  more  desperate  effort  was  made  to  rob  the  Irish 
people  of  their  faith.  All  Catholic  Churches,  colleges, 
and  seminaries  were  closed.  CathoUc  education  was 
proscribed  throughout  the  whole  island.  Priests  were 
forbidden  to  celebrate  Mass  under  the  penalty  of  six- 
months'  imprisonment  for  the  first,  five  years  for  the 
second,  and  life-long  incarceration  for  the  third 
offence.  Laymen  for  assisting  at  Mass  were  imprison- 
ed for  one  year  for  the  first  offence  and  for  life  for  the 
second  offence. 

The  persecutions  waged  against  the  faith  of  the 
Irish  people  by  the  "good  Queen  Bess"  were  the  most 
atrocious  that  the  world  has  ever  seen  since  the  days 
of  the  Pharaohs.  At  the  present  day,  Enghshmen  of 
refinement  affect  to  shudder  at  the  horrors  of  the  Span- 
ish Inquisition,  but  what  was  that  in  comparison  with 
the  EngUsh  Inquisition  established  in  Ireland  by 
Queen  EHzabeth!  If  only  the  walls  of  Dublin  Castle 
and  of  the  Tower  of  London  could  speak,  what  a  tale 
of  barbarity  they  would  relate  beside  which  the  atroc- 
ities of  the  Spanish  Inquisition  dwindle  into  insignifi- 
cance!    A  detailed  account  of  these  horrible  tortures 


I'ME  CELT  ASOVE  THE  SAXON  239 

would  make  one's  blood  run  cold.  Two  instances 
may  be  cited  as  an  illustration. 

In  the  year  1583,  Archbishop  O'Herlihy,  of  Cashel, 
was  tied  to  a  stake  and  his  body  covered  with  pitch, 
oil,  salt,  and  sulphur,  after  which  a  slow  fire  was  started 
and  managed  with  such  barbaric  skill  and  civilized 
cruelty  that  the  victim  was  made  to  endure  this  in- 
human torture  for  hours  without  being  permitted  to 
expire.  He  was  then  cast  into  prison,  but  only  to  be 
brought  out  the  next  day  and  strangled  on  the  rack. 

Another  Catholic  martyr,  Bishop  O'Hely,  of  Mayo, 
was  in  the  year  1578,  stretched  on  a  rack,  his  hands 
and  feet  broken  with  hammers,  large  needles  driven 
violently  under  his  nails,  and  after  enduring  these 
barbarities  for  some  time,  was  taken  from  the  rack 
and  hung  from  the  limb  of  a  neighboring  tree. 

How  many  Irish  Catholics  suffered  death  for  the 
faith  at  this  period  will  never  be  known  till  the  last 
great  judgment  day.  In  all  probability  the  number 
must  have  reached  up  to  hundreds  of  thousands  and 
perhaps  milhons.  English  historians  themselves  tell 
us  that  Queen  Elizabeth  let  loose  upon  the  Irish  people 
a  greedy  band  of  EngUsh  adventurers,  who  not  only 
robbed  them  and  plundered  their  churches,  but  also 
shed  the  blood  of  bishops,  priests,  and  people  in  tor- 
rents, so  that  at  one  time  a  traveller  might  go  for  twenty 
miles  through  the  country  without  hearing  so  much  as 
the  w:histle  of  a  plough-boy  or  seeing  the  face  of  a  liv- 
ing man.  But  the  trenches  and  ditches  were  filled 
with  the  corpses  of  the  people  and  the  land  was  re- 
duced to  a  desolate  wilderness.     Even  one  of  Queen 


2-40  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Elizabeth's  deputies,  Sir  Henry  Sidney,  assures  us 
that:  "Such  horrible  spectacles  are  to  be  beheld,  as  the 
burning  of  villages,  the  ruin  of  towns,  yea,  the  view  of 
the  bones  and  skulls  of  the  dead,  who  partly  by  murder 
and  partly  by  famine  have  died  in  the  fields.  It  is 
such  as  hardly  any  Christian  can  behold  with  a  dry 
eye."  Yet,  despite  all  these  frightful  persecutions, 
Queen  Elizabeth  went  down  to  her  grave  having  the 
mortification  to  know  that  her  attempt  to  extirpate 
the  Catholic  rehgion  in  Ireland  had  been  entirely  in 
vain,  for  the  remnant  of  the  Irish  people  who  survived 
her  clung  as  tenaciously  as  ever  to  the  true  faith. 

But  dreadful  as  was  the  persecution  of  the  Irish  by 
Queen  Elizabeth,  it  was  nothing  in  comparison  with 
that  of  Cromwell.  Despairing  of  being  able  to  over- 
throw the  Catholic  faith  in  Ireland  by  any  other  means, 
he  resolved  to  extirpate  the  whole  Irish  race,  and  gave 
orders  to  his  soldiers  to  give  no  quarter,  but  to  slay 
man,  woman,  and  child,  as  Joshua  slew  the  Canaanites 
of  old.  Accordingly,  the  soil  of  Ireland  soon  was  red 
with  blood;  there  was  a  dreadful  massacre  of  two 
thousand  Irish  Catholics  at  Wexford  and  three  thou- 
sand more  at  Drogheda,  one  thousand  of  whom  were 
butchered  whilst  kneeling  in  prayer  before  the  altar. 
In  other  parts  of  the  island  there  were  massacres  equal- 
ly ferocious.  In  some  places  the  houses  were  set  on 
fire  and  the  inhabitants  roasted  to  death  in  their  own 
homes.  Others  were  roasted  to  death  over  a  slow  fire. 
Even  the  little  babes  in  their  mother's  arms  were  not 
spared.  Sometimes  the  barbarous  soldiers  transfixed 
t)»em  with  a  spear  upon  their  mother's  breast.     On 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  241 

other  occasions  they  knocked  their  little  heads  against 
the  wall  and  dashed  out  their  brains. 

So  dreadful  was  this  persecution  that  the  popula- 
tion of  Ireland  was  reduced  from  i  ,466,000  to  500,000. 
Those  who  survived  the  butcheries  of  Cromwell,  were 
given  the  alternative  of  renouncing  the  Catholic  relig- 
ion and  embracing  the  Protestant  faith  or  of  surrender- 
ing all  their  property  and  deporting  themselves  to  a 
barren  reservation  in  the  Province  of  Connaught, 
where  it  was  hoped  the  Irish  race  would  soon  become 
extinct  from  hunger  and  privation.  Yet,  almost  to  a 
man,  our  heroic  ancestors  abandoned  their  houses, 
their  goods,  their  revenues,  and  their  wealth,  choosing 
rather  to  be  afflicted  with  the  people  of  God  on  the 
mountain  side,  and  in  the  caverns  of  the  earth,  in 
hunger  and  thirst,  in  cold  and  nakedness,  rather  than 
prove  faithless  to  their  holy  religion. 

But  it  was  especially  against  the  clergy  that  the  rage 
of  the  persecutors  was  directed.  They  well  knew  the 
truth  of  the  proverb:  '^Strike  the  shepherd  and  the 
sheep  will  scatter,"  Accordingly,  they  offered  the 
same  reward  for  the  head  of  a  priest  as  for  the  head 
of  a  wolf.  Anyone  who  knew  where  a  priest  was  con- 
cealed and  did  not  betray  him  was  considered  a  traitor. 
He  was  cast  into  prison,  flogged  through  the  streets, 
and  had  his  ears  cut  off.  But  the  person  who  would 
dare  to  harbor  a  priest  was  himself  put  to  death. 

Nevertheless,  the  priests,  even  in  these  trying  times, 
did  not  abandon  their  flocks.  Disguised  as  farmers 
and  laborers,  they  continued  to  minister  to  their 
people  during  the  darkness  of  night,  and  to  celebrate 


242  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

for  them  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass  in  some  lonely 
glen,  or  in  the  dep)th  of  the  forest.  But  even  then  their 
steps  were  frequently  tracked  by  English  spies  and 
the  faithful  priest  was  often  slain  at  the  v^ry  altar. 
Three  hundred  Irish  clergymen  laid  down  their  lives 
for  the  faith  during  the  persecution  of  Cromwell  and 
the  barbarities  inflicted  on  most  of  them  were  simply 
indescribable.  One  of  these  heroic  martyrs,  the  Rev. 
Daniel  Delany,  was  stripped  naked  and  tied  to  a 
horse's  tail,  then  the  animal  was  driven  at  full  speed 
over  a  road  covered  with  brambles  and  thickets,  and 
rough  with  frost,  until  his  body  was  all  mangled,  and 
he  was  covered  all  over  with  blood.  Though  now 
one  mass  of  bruises,  and  almost  half  dead,  he  was  de- 
livered up  for  further  tortures  to  a  guard  of  soldiers, 
who  amused  themselves  by  cruelly  beating  him  with 
clubs  as  he  lay  naked  on  the  frozen  ground,  during  a 
long,  sleepless  night.  Next  day  he  was  three  different 
times  hanged  to  the  bough  of  a  tree  and  as  often  let 
down  to  the  ground,  in  order  to  protract  the  agony  o 
his  torture,  but  finally  he  was  strangled  with  a  rope, 
and  thus  ended  his  fife  of  suffering  on  earth  to  reign 
triumphant  in  heaven. 

Another  holy  priest.  Rev.  Peter  O'Higgins,  was 
sentenced  to  death  for  the  faith  in  the  City  of  Dublin, 
in  1 64 1.  The  very  morning  fixed  for  his  execution 
he  received  word  that  if  he  only  renounced  the  Cath- 
olic faith  and  become  a  Protestant,  not  only  would 
his  life  be  spared,  but  he  would  be  granted  many  great 
privileges.  In  reply  he  desired  that  these  proposals 
should  be  made  to  him  in  writing,  under  the  signature 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  243 

of  the  judges  who  had  condemned  him  to  death.  He 
likewise  requested  that  they  should  be  handed  to  him 
in  sight  of  the  gibbet.  His  wishes  were  complied 
with,  and,  as  he  mounted  the  first  step  of  the  scaffold, 
the  executioner  placed  in  his  hand  the  document  con- 
taining his  pardon  on  the  aforesaid  condition.  But  the 
intrepid  martyr,  standing  on  the  scaffold,  held  up  be- 
fore the  multitude  that  had  assembled,  the  pardon 
that  he  had  received  on  condition  of  renouncing  his 
rehgion,  showing  conclusively  that  he  was  condemned 
fur  no  crime,  but  was  about  to  die  for  his  faith.  Then 
casting  the  document  containing  his  pardon,  with  the 
autograph  of  the  judges,  into  the  crowd,  he  heroically 
gave  up  his  soul  to  God. 

Similar  instances  of  heroism  on  the  part  of  other 
Irish  priests  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely,  but  we 
shall  not  weary  the  reader  with  the  harrowing  details 
of  these  frightful  persecutions.  If  any  one  is  desirous 
to  get  a  further  knowledge  of  the  sufferings  which  our 
ancestors  endured  for  the  faith,  he  will  find  a  most 
graphic  exposition  of  the  subject  in  a  Httle  work  en- 
titled: ''Persecutions  Suffered  by  the  Catholics  of 
Ireland  under  the  Rule  of  Cromwell  and  the  Puri- 
tans," by  the  Rev.  Patrick  Moran. 

Not  only  has  poor  Ireland  suffered  the  most  fright- 
ful persecutions  for  the  faith,  but  in  a  land  naturally 
flowing  with  milk  and  honey,  she  has  had  to  endure 
the  awful  horror  of  famine  as  the  result  of  English 
misgovernment.  Many  of  those  who  are  now  living 
remember  the  terrible  famine  of  1847,  when  little 
children  in  their  mother's  arms  cried  for  bread  and 


244  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

there  was  none  to  give  them,  and  strong  men  by  the 
hundreds  died  of  starvation  by  the  roadside.  A  single 
word  renouncing  their  holy  faith  would  have  brought 
them  food  in  abundance  for  themselves  and  their  fam- 
ilies, but  they  preferred  death  itself,  aye,  the  slow^ 
lingering  death  of  starvation,  rather  than  the  dishonor 
of  proving  unfaithful  to  God.  So,  notwithstanding 
persecution,  famine,  and  afflictions  of  all  kinds,  Ire- 
land is  to-day,  as  she  has  always  been,  the  ever-faithful 
isle. 

In  the  meantime,  England  had  made  great  progress 
in  material  prosperity,  and  had  extended  her  empire 
all  over  the  world,  but  she  had  gone  from  bad  to  worse 
in  the  sight  of  God.  Henry  VIII.  had  plunged  the 
kingdom  into  schism  when  he  renounced  all  allegiance 
to  the  Pope  in  matters  of  faith,  yet  that  brutal  mon- 
arch to  the  last  day  of  his  hfe  beheved  every  doctrine 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  in  those  days  every  Eng- 
lishman had  to  think  like  his  sovereign  or  take  the 
consequences.  But  in  the  reign  of  his  son  and  suc- 
cessor, Edward  VI.,  England  fell  into  positive  heresy, 
denied  the  doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence,  and  abol- 
ished the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass.  For  a  few  years 
the  Catholic  religion  was  restored  by  Queen  Mary, 
but  Elizabeth,  at  her  accession,  plunged  the  country 
deeper  than  ever  into  the  mire  of  apostacy.  Ever 
vSince  England  has  been  drifting  from  one  error  to 
another,  until  in  our  own  day  many  of  her  leading 
scholars,  like  the  late  Huxley  and  Tyndall,  have  be- 
come Agnostics,  that  is  men  who  do  not  affirm  or 
deny  the  existence  of  God,  but  simply  say  that  they 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  245 

do  not  know  whether  there  is  a  Supreme  Being  or  not. 
But  sadder  still — there  are  thousands,  tens  of  thou- 
sands, aye  millions,  of  Englishmen,  who  have  no  faith 
at  all.  An  English  writer,  by  the  name  of  Conybeare, 
assures  us  that  the  mechanics  and  laborers  of  England 
have,  to  a  fearful  extent,  renounced  all  belief  in  Chris- 
tianity, and  that  there  are  five  millions  of  people  in 
Britain  who  have  no  religion  at  all. 

Still  more  startling  is  the  testimony  of  the  Rev.  T. 
Hugo,  in  the  Church  Times,  Oct.  13,  1876: 

"The  masses  in  Lancashire  and  of  London  were  as 
heathen  as  those  of  whom  St.  Paul  drew  a  picture  in 
immortal  though  dreadful  colors.  He  knew  the 
mobs  of  London  and  Lancashire  well  and  he  gave  it 
on  his  word  of  honor  as  a  Christian  priest  that  there 
was  no  difference  between  them  and  the  people  whom 
St.  Paul  portrayed." 

The  English  Quarterly  Review,  of  April,  i86t,  also 
informs  us  that  "there  are  in  London  whole  streets 
within  easy  walk  of  Charing  Cross  and  miles  and 
miles  in  more  obscure  places,  where  the  people  live 
literally  without  God  in  the  world.  We  could  name 
entire  quarters  where  the  very  shop-keepers  make  a 
profession  of  atheism  and  encourage  their  poor  cus- 
tomers to  do  the  same." 

Even  so  recently  as  January,  1880,  the  Protestant 
Bishop  of  Rochester  preaching  a  sermon  in  the  Royal 
Chapel,  St.  James',  said: 

"I  lament  the  brutal  ignorance  of  all  that  pertains 
to  their  salvation  in  which  the  toiling  masses  of  our 
people  Mye.     To  hundreds  of  thousands  of  our  fellow- 


246  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

countrymen  Almighty  God  is  practically  an  unknown 
Being,  except  as  the  substance  of  a  hideous  oath." 
Who  then  will  dare  to  deny  that  England  richly  de- 
serves the  unenviable  title  of  the  land  of  infidehty  ? 

Yet,  notwithstanding  their  schism,  their  heresy, 
their  infidelity,  and  their  agnosticism,  many  English- 
men have  still  the  folly  or  the  effrontery  to  claim  that 
they  are  yet  the  one  true  Church,  or  at  least  a  branch 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  that  their  ministers  are  real 
priests  and  that  their  bishops  have  come  down  in  un- 
broken succession  from  the  Apostles.  It  is  very  hard 
to  understand  how  any  intelHgent  people  can  honestly 
entertain  such  sentiments.  It  would  be  just  as  reason- 
able for  Lucifer  and  his  followers  to  claim  that  they 
are  still  angels  in  good  standing  since  their  fall  from 
heaven.  ''How  art  thou  fallen  from  grace,  O  Lucifer! 
So  have  the  EngHsh  people  fallen  away  from  the  true 
faith,  though  they  seem  to  reahze  it  not. 

Holy  Scripture  tells  us  that  "what  God  has  joined 
together  no  man  may  put  asunder."  How  then  can 
our  Enghsh  Protestants  ever  conceive  that  they  may 
with  impunity  thrust  aside  the  Pope  whom  our  Saviour 
Himself  made  the  head  of  His  Church,  overthrow  the 
order  which  Christ  has  established,  deny  the  doc- 
trines which  Oiu-  Divine  Master  has  taught,  defy  the 
Church  which  He  has  instituted,  and  yet  remain  in 
the  very  same  state  of  grace  and  friendship  with  (iod 
as  before?  We  may  be  very  certain  that  God  will 
not  permit  the  Church  founded  by  His  Divine  Son, 
nor  the  Pope,  whom  He  placed  over  it,  to  be  set  aside 
so  easily.     When,  therefore,  the  English  Church  cast 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  247 

off  her  allegiance  to  the  Pope  she  cut  off  her  own  head 
and  became  a  headless  trunk.  It  is  vain  for  Protes- 
tants to  say  that  though  separated  from  the  Pope  they 
are  still  in  union  with  Christ  Who  is  the  Real  Head  of 
the  Church.  Christ  is  the  Head  of  the  Church,  it  is 
true,  but  the  invisible  Head.  However,  as  the  Church 
is  a  visible  society,  she  must  also  have  a  visible  head, 
for  a  visible  body  must  always  have  a  visible  head, 
otherwise  it  w^ould  be  incomplete.  Nevertheless,  it 
should  be  well  understood  that  there  are  not  two  sep- 
arate heads  over  the  Church,  for  the  visible  and  in- 
visible are  morally  one  and  the  same.  Christ  and  the 
Pope  are  not  divided.  The  Pope  is  only  the  Vicar  of 
Christ  on  earth  and  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  the 
first  Pope,  w^hom  Our  Saviour,  before  departing  from 
this  life  commissioned  to  feed  His  lambs  and  His  sheep, 
that  is  to  rule  and  govern  all  the  Christian  people 
throughout  the  world.  So,  just  as  in  the  days  of  old, 
the  savage  tyrant  Atilla  saw  behind  the  Pope  an  angel 
with  a  fiery  sword,  in  a  similar  manner,  if  the  English 
people  could  only  open  the  eyes  of  their  soul,  they 
might  behold  behind  Pope  Pius  X.  our  Divine  Lord 
Himself.  Consequently  it  is  utterly  impossible  to 
separate  from  the  Pope  and  continue  in  union  with 
Christ.  Hence,  v/hen  the  Church  of  England  re- 
nounced her  allegiance  to  the  Pope  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  by  that  very  act  in  one  moment  she  severed 
her  union  with  Christ  also.  But  what  becomes  of 
those  who  separate  from  Jesus?  He  Himself  tells 
us  in  John  XV. -4 :  "I  am  the  vine ;  you  are  the  branches, 
he  that  abideth  in  Me,  and  I  in  him,  the  same  shall 


248  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

bring  forth  much  fruit.  But  if  anyone  abide  not  in 
Me,  he  shall  be  cast  forth  as  a  withered  branch." 

It  was  thus  that  England  fell  away  from  the  one, 
true  Church.  She  was  indeed  once  a  flourishing 
branch  of  the  CathoHc  Church,  but  she  withered  away, 
fell  off  the  main  tree,  and  was  broken  into  a  hundred 
fragments,  so  that  to-day,  she  can  be  regarded  neither 
as  the  Catholic  Church  nor  even  as  a  branch  of  it. 
She  certainly  cannot  be  recognized  as  the  Catholic 
Church,  because  there  is  a  positive  contradiction  be- 
tween the  words  Enghsh  and  CathoUc.  The  term 
Catholic  is  derived  from  a  Greek  word  which  means 
universal,  or  spread  over  the  whole  world.  But  the 
English  Church  is  not  by  any  means  spread  over  the 
whole  universe.  It  is  spread  over  a  large  portion  of 
the  earth,  it  is  true,  but  is  still  very  far  from  being  a 
world-wide  reUgion.  It  has  not  a  single  foot-hold  in 
the  Continent  of  Europe  nor  in  the  whole  of  Asia 
outside  of  India.  In  fact  it  is  entirely  confined  to 
England  and  her  colonies.  Moreover,  it  is  split  up 
into  so  many  different  sects  that  it  hardly  deserves 
the  appellation  of  a  Church  at  all.  In  the  United 
States  alone  there  are  one  hundred  and  fifty  different 
petty  Protestant  sects,  most  of  them  off-shoots  of  the 
Church  of  England,  so  that  it  well  merits  the  title  of 
the  Camp  of  Babel  and  Confusion. 

On  the  contrary,  the  real  Cathohc  Church  which 
recognizes  the  Pope  as  its  head  flourishes  wherever 
the  English  Church  exists,  and  moreover,  in  every 
island  and  continent  under  the  sun.  It  is  at  home 
everywhere.     It  is  a  stranger  nowhere,  and  to-day  its 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  249 

adherents  number  300,000,000  souls,  whereas  all  the 
Protestant  denominations  taken  together  scarcely  ex- 
ceed 100,000,000,  so  that  there  are  three  Catholics  to 
one  Protestant  of  every  sect  and  creed.  It  is  perfectly 
clear,  therefore,  that  the  EngUsh  Church  has  no  right 
whatever  to  the  title  of  Catholic. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  highly  amusing  to  witness  the 
agitation  going  on  at  the  present  time  among  our  An- 
glican friends  regarding  a  change  of  name  for  their 
Church.  Many  would  Uke  to  drop  the  name  Protes- 
tant entirely  and  boldly  assume  the  title  of  Catholic. 
But  that  would  be  a  very  bad  sign  indeed.  It  would 
be  an  acknowledgment  that  they  are  ashamed  of  their 
name,  and  when  people  are  ashamed  of  their  name 
it  shows,  as  Shakespeare  says,  that  *' there  is  something 
horrid  in  Denmark." 

But  I  suppose  that  England  must  be  true  to  her  old 
traditions  of  robbery  and  spohation.  She  does  not 
consider  it  sufficient  to  have  despoiled  so  many  nations 
of  their  country  and  independence.  So  she  would 
now  Uke  to  steal  the  glorious  title  of  the  one  true 
Church.  But  this  would  not  be  the  first  time  that 
heretical  sects  endeavored  to  do  that.  Fifteen  cen- 
turies ago,  the  Donatists  and  the  Arians  claimed  to  be 
the  only  true  Catholics,  but  they  have  long  since  passed 
away  and  the  Catholic  Church  still  lives. 

If  the  English  Church,  therefore,  ever  really  does 
assume  the  name  of  Catholic  she  will  only  make  herself 
ridiculous  before  the  world.  Everybody  will  say  that 
it  is  an  unwarranted  assumption.  It  will  only  show 
up  her  heresy  and  schism  in  a  still  more  glaring  light 


25©  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

and  manifest  to  all  mankind  how  vain  and  hollow  arc 
her  pretensions.  She  has  lately  been  putting  on  great 
airs  over  the  Lutherans,  the  Presbyterians,  the  Bap- 
tists, and  other  Protestant  sects,  whom  she  regards 
as  heretics  and  not  at  all  in  the  same  category  as  her- 
self. But  if  ever  she  usurps  the  title  of  Catholic 
all  these  honest  non-Catholics  will  laugh  at  her  absurd 
vanity  and  convict  her  of  being  exactly  on  the  same 
level  with  themselves. 

Members  of  the  true  fold  can  only  pity  this  spiritual 
blindness  of  the  Anglican  Church,  because  far  from 
being  the  Catholic  Church,  she  is  no  longer  even  a 
branch  of  it.  Since  the  very  first  ages  of  Christianity, 
two  things  that  cut  off  all  membership  \vith  the  true 
Church  were  heresy  and  schism.  Consequently, 
when  England  fell  into  schism,  in  the  reign  of  Henry 
Vin.,  and  into  heresy  in  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
she  broke  the  last  link  that  united  her  to  the  Cathohc 
Church.  Hence  she  has  been  ever  since  in  the  same 
condition  as  the  Arians,  the  Nestorians,  the  Donatists, 
the  Pelagians,  the  Manichaens,  and  other  heretics  of 
ancient  times  or  the  adherents  of  the  Schismatic  Greek 
Church  of  the  present  day. 

But  the  Anglicans  are  in  a  worse  pHght  than  even 
the  Greek  Schismatics,  because  the  latter,  though  her- 
etics and  schismatics  have  real  priests  and  bishops, 
who  may  validly  offer  up  for  them  the  Holy  Sacrifice 
of  the  Mass  and  administer  to  them  the  Sacraments, 
at  least  at  the  hour  of  death.  But  the  Enghsh  Church 
has  neither  real  priests  nor  real  bishops,  because  her 
so-called  bishops  have  never  been  validly  consecrated 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  251 

and  consequently  the  ministers  whom  they  pretended 
to  ordain  are  not  genuine  priests,  but  only  a  counter- 
feit. Only  quite  recently  this  question  was  definitely 
settled  forever  by  the  late  Pope  Leo  XIII.  If  he  had 
only  decided  that  the  Anglican  Church  had  a  validly 
ordained  priesthood  and  a  validly  consecrated  episco- 
pate, the  whole  EngHsh  people  might  have  then  come 
over,  bag  and  baggage,  to  join  the  CathoUc  Church. 
But,  even  for  the  sake  of  gaining  a  whole  nation,  the 
great  Pontiff  could  not  acknowledge  the  vaKdity  of 
Anglican  orders,  because  away  back  in  the  time  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  the  line  of  Apostolic  succession  was 
broken,  for  Parker,  who  consecrated  all  the  so-called 
bishops  of  the  English  Reformed  Church  had  not 
been  validly  consecrated  himself  and  therefore  could 
not  validly  consecrate  others. 

In  order  to  have  a  bishop  validly  consecrated  two 
things  •  are  absolutely  essential.  In  the  first  place, 
the  consecrating  prelate  must  have  been  validly  con- 
secrated himself.  In  the  second  place,  he  must  employ 
the  proper  formula  in  consecrating  the  new  bishop. 
Now  it  is  very  doubtful  if  Barlow,  who  consecrated 
Parker  had  ever  been  consecrated  himself.  The 
general  belief  is  that  he  was  only  a  bishop-elect  who 
had  not  yet  received  his  consecration  when  he  at- 
tempted to  consecrate  Parker.  But  a  still  greater 
defect  in  the  consecration  of  Parker  was  that  the 
wrong  formula  was  employed.  This  was  the  form  of 
consecration  found  in  the  Ordinal  of  Edward  VI. 
Even  the  Anglicans  themselves  soon  afterwards  ac- 
knowledged the  invalidity  of  this  formula,  for  Queen 


aS2  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Elizabeth  declared  that  by  virtue  of  her  supremacy  as 
head  of  the  Church  she  supplied  whatever  defects  were 
in  the  ritual,  and  more  than  fifty  years  afterwards  the 
form  of  consecration  was  changed  entirely  in  the  Eng- 
lish Ritual.  But  is  not  this  a  tacit  avowal  that  the 
first  formula  was  invalid  ?  As  a  result  all  the  clergy- 
men of  the  EngUsh  Church  to-day,  from  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  down  to  the  humblest  minister, 
are  only  laymen  pure  and  simple,  arrayed  in  clerical 
garb. 

Not  only  has  England  proved  unfaithful  to  the 
Church  instituted  by  Christ,  but  she  has  likewise  re- 
jected many  of  the  Saviour's  teachings.  If  St.  Aug- 
ustine, the  first  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  were  to  rise 
from  the  dead  to-day  and  revisit  his  former  diocese, 
he  would  say  to  the  present  incumbent  of  that  See: 
"You  are  not  my  successor,  for  I  and  my  successors 
were  in  union  with  the  Pope  and  acknowledged  his 
supremacy.  We  also  beUeved  in  the  Holy  Sacrifice 
of  the  Mass,  the  Sacrament  of  Confession,  the  doc- 
trine of  Purgatory,  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary's  inter- 
cessory power,  the  invocation  of  the  saints,  and  the 
veneration  of  their  relics.  We  also  insisted  on  the 
sanctity  of  the  marriage  bond  and  taught  most  em- 
phatically that  there  was  no  such  thing  as  divorce; 
but  all  these  things  you  have  denied.  You  are  now 
striving  to  restore  Confession  and  the  Mass,  but  it  is 
too  late,  for  you  have  no  longer  a  priesthood,  and  with- 
out priests  it  is  impossible  to  have  sacrifice  or  Sacra- 
ments. You  are  now  endeavoring  to  enact  against 
divorce,  laws  almost  as  stringent  as  those  of  the  Oath- 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  353 

olic  Church,  but  is  not  this  a  sign  that  your  legislation 
on  that  subject  hitherto  has  been  all  wrong  ?  In  fact, 
the  divorce  of  Henry  VIII.  was  the  original  sin  of 
your  Church,  the  very  cause  of  its  origin,  and  the  very 
foundation  of  your  creed.  Why  have  you  proved  so 
unfaithful  to  the  doctrines  which  I  taught  you?" 

How  different  has  been  the  conduct  of  the  ever- 
faithful  Irish  from  that  of  this  land  of  infidelity!  It 
is  true  poor  Erin,  as  a  reward  for  her  fidelity,  seems 
to  have  so  far  received  nothing  but  sufferings,  whilst 
faithless  England  has  met  with  the  greatest  prosperity. 
But  that  is  the  very  best  proof  of  the  existence  of  a 
future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments,  where 
wrongs  will  be  righted,  where  the  wicked  will  receive 
their  just  chastisements  and  the  just  their  due  recom- 
pense. 

Ireland's  afflictions  may  be  only  blessings  in  dis- 
guise from  the  hand  of  God.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
her  persecution  by  Queen  Ehzabeth  and  Cromwell 
filled  the  courts  of  heaven  with  Irish  saints,  and  if 
people  still  retain  their  terrestrial  language  in  the  celes- 
tial regions,  for  many  years  afterwards  there  must 
have  been  more  Irish  spoken  in  heaven  than  all  other 
languages  together.  There  is  one  place  at  least  where 
the  Celt  is  above  the  Saxon.  That  is  in  heaven, 
whence  the  Irish  martyrs  now  look  down  upon  their 
EngHsh  persecutors,  and  we  may  be  certain  that  a 
humble  peasant  from  Erin  would  not  change  places 
with  a  sovereign  of  England.  Now  they  all  reaUze 
the  truth  of  Our  Lord's  words:  "Blessed  arc  the  poor 
and  blessed  are  they  that  suffer  persecution  for  jus- 


254  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

tice'  sake,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  but 
"Woe  to  those  who  now  laugh  for  they  shall  mourn 
and  weep." 

On  the  other  hand,  God  may  be  rewarding  the  Eng- 
lish with  temporal  prosperity  as  a  recompense  for 
whatever  good  they  may  have  accomplished  here  be- 
low. There  is  no  doubt  that  England  has  conferred 
upon  mankind  some  of  the  greatest  blessings  of  civil- 
ization. If  we  were  indebted  to  her  for  nothing  else 
but  the  steam-engine  and  the  railway  we  should  owe 
her  a  great  debt  of  gratitude.  Perhaps,  therefore, 
as  God  cannot  reward  Englishmen  in  the  next  world 
because  of  their  great  infidehty  to  Him,  He  is  requiting 
them  for  the  benefits  which  they  have  bestowed  on 
humanity  in  this  life.  But  that  is  the  only  reward 
which  they  shall  ever  receive.  As  Our  Lord  Himself 
said:  "Amen  I  say  to  you,  they  have  received  their  re- 
ward." 

Yet  it  must  be  remembered  that  temporal  prosperity 
does  not  always  come  from  God.  It  is  sometimes  the 
result  of  dishonesty.  In  fact  it  is  sometimes  the  wages 
of  sin  and  of  infideHty  to  God.  Did  not  Satan  himself 
once  offer  to  give  our  Saviour  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world  if  he  would  kneel  down  and  adore  him  ?  How 
much  of  England's  prosperity  comes  from  her  own 
industry,  how  much  as  a  reward  from  God,  how  much 
from  her  dishonesty  and  spoliation,  and  how  much 
from  an  evil  source  we  are  not  prepared  to  say.  But 
it  is  certain  that  the  EngUsh  frequently  allege  that 
their  religion  is  a  great  drawback  upon  the  Irish 
people,  that  it  checks  their  progress,  and  prevents 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  ^55 

them  from  making  headway  in  the  great  commercial 
struggle  of  the  age.  There  may  be  some  truth  in  this. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  a  nation  without  any  conscience 
or  any  religion  has  a  great  advantage  over  a  conscien- 
tious, rehgious  people  like  the  Irish.  As  the  poet 
Shakespeare  says:  "It  is  conscience  that  makes  cow- 
ards of  us  all."  It  is  certain  that  the  ten  command- 
ments of  God  and  the  six  precepts  of  the  Church  ex- 
ercise a  wholesome  moral  influence  over  our  race. 
If  the  Irish  had  no  conscience  and  no  religion,  they 
would  be  much  better  able  to  compete  with  the  un- 
scrupulous Anglo-Saxon. 

Yet,  who  knows  but  England  may  soon  be  punished 
for  all  her  wickedness  and  Ireland  amply  rewarded 
for  her  fidelity,  even  in  this  world  ?  Iniquity  shall 
not  always  triumph,  nor  virtue  be  forever  trampled 
under  foot,  even  in  this  life.  The  Lord  never  intended 
that  His  faithful  children  should  be  ever  the  foot-stool 
of  unbelievers  on  this  earth.  "No!  No!  God  is  just." 
We  shall,  therefore,  in  our  final  chapter,  cast  a  pros- 
pective glance  over  "The  Future  of  the  Celt  and  the 
Saxon." 


CHAPTER  Vn. 
The  Future  of  the  Celt  and  the  Saxon. 

GOD  alone  knows  the  future  and  we  make  no 
claim  to  be  a  prophet  or  a  clairvoyant  who 
can  foresee  things  to  come.  Yet,  as  Our 
Saviour  says  in  the  Gospel,  every  intelligent  man 
should  be  able  to  "read  the  signs  of  the  times."  But 
all  signs  seem  to  indicate  that  England  is  on  the  down- 
ward path,  that  a  new  day  of  freedom  is  dawning  for 
Ireland,  and  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  she 
will  once  more  take  her  place  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth. 

The  best  way  to  judge  the  future  is  by  the  past. 
Now  we  know  from  history  that  every  nation  has  had 
its  rise,  and  its  fall,  its  day  of  glory  and  its  time  of  de- 
cay. A  nation  is  like  an  individual — it  is  born,  grows 
strong,  lives  for  some  centuries  until  it  has  reached 
its  allotted  time,  and  then  dies.  That  has  been  the 
history  of  all  the  great  nations  and  governments  of 
ancient  times.  Babylon,  Greece,  and  Rome  were 
once  very  powerful  monarchies  and  republics,  but 
where  are  they  to-day  ?  They  are  trodden  down  in  the 
dust.  They  flourished  for  a  few  centuries,  then  they 
faded  away  like  a  flower  in  the  Autumn  and  perished. 
Scarcely  one  of  these  mighty  powers  endured  for  a 
thousand  years.  But  England  has  already  outhved 
that  period.  In  the  natural  course  of  events,  there- 
fore, the  time  of  her  dissolution  must  be  close  at  hand. 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  ^57 

As  the  proverb  says;  "Coming  events  cast  their 
shadows  before."  But  there  are  very  many  shadows 
indeed  now  overhanging  England,  portending  grave 
calamities  for  the  future.  The  late  Lord  Salsbury, 
during  the  recent  Spanish-American  War,  once  sneer- 
ingly  spoke  of  Spain  as  "a  decaying  power."  Yet 
there  is  no  power  in  Europe  to-day  that  shows  more 
unmistakable  signs  of  decay  than  England  herself. 

The  first  alarming  sign  of  England's  decay  is  the 
notable  decrease  of  her  trade  and  commerce  during 
the  last  few  years.  The  Germans  and  Americans  are 
fast  driving  them  out  of  all  the  markets  of  the  world. 
In  fact,  during  the  late  Boer  War,  American  firms  in 
competition  with  the  British  were  awarded  many  con- 
tracts for  building  bridges  in  South  Africa,  though 
naturally  there  was  much  murmuring  amongst  Eng- 
lish mechanics,  because  their  own  government  em- 
ployed foreigners  in  preference  to  themselves. 

Indeed,  America  can  now  undersell  England  in  her 
own  markets,  and  American  goods  are  sold  cheaper 
in  Great  Britain  than  the  English  can  manufacture 
merchandise  of  the  same  quality  at  home.  A  very 
amusing  instance  of  this  was  recently  brought  to  light. 
A  certain  American  clergyman  of  English  proclivities, 
whilst  travelHng  abroad,  thought  he  would  bring  home 
with  him  a  nice  pair  of  imported  shoes — real  English, 
you  know.  So  he  went  into  a  shoe  store  in  London, 
but  imagine  his  surprise  when  the  salesman  brought 
him  a  pair  of  shoes  marked  "Brockton,  Mass." 
"Well!"  said  he,  "I  guess  I  can  get  shoes  like  these 
much  nearer  to  me  at  home,  where  I  shall  not  have  to 


,2S8  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

pay  any  duty  or  tariff  on  them,"  and  he  abruptly  left 
the  store. 

But  that  is  not  the  only  business  in  which  England 
is  fahing  behind.  Still  more  noticeable  is  her  deca- 
dence in  the  iron  industry.  There  was  a  time  when 
England  was  the  great  iron  and  steel  producing  power 
of  the  world,  and  Sheffield  steel  was  famous  through- 
out the  universe,  but  now  all  that  is  changed.  In  a 
special  desp?itch  to  The  Boston  Herald  from  its  Eng- 
lish correspondent,  July  17,  1904,  an  American  trav- 
elling salesman  relates  how  there  was  recently  held  in 
England  a  conference  of  the  Midland  Iron  Trade  As- 
sociation of  the  City  of  Birmingham,  the  home  of 
Joseph  Chamberlain,  and  this  meeting  resolved  itself 
into  a  conclave  of  lamentation  over  depressed  business 
conditions.  It  was  openly  declared  that  there  was  no 
demand  for  either  iron  or  steel,  and  that  prices  were 
unremunerative,  competition  keen,  and  money  very 
difficult  to  obtain.  Every  branch  of  the  industry  re- 
ported depression.  The  iron-masters  of  Great  Britain 
appeared  to  be  suffering  from  a  bad  fit  of  the  blues. 

Figures  of  the  trade  statement  for  the  first  six 
months  of  the  year  show  decrease  in  exports  of  iron 
and  steel  manufactures  compared  with  the  same  pe- 
riod in  1903.  In  1903,  the  United  States  led  with  a 
production  of  18,000,000  tons  of  pig  iron,  Germany 
was  second  with  an  output  of  10,000,000  tons,  and 
Great  Britain  with  about  9,000,000  tons  to  her  credit. 
But  in  1883,  twenty  years  before.  Great  Britain  pro- 
duced 8,490,000  tons,  the  United  States  4,595,000  tons, 
and  Germany  3,680,000  tons.     In  other  words,  Great 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  259 

Britain  has  stood  practically  stationary,  while  Ger- 
many has  nearly  doubled,  and  the  United  States  has 
nearly  quadrupled  in  iron  producing  capacity. 

With  steel,  the  results  are  nearly  the  same.  From 
1883  to  1903  Great  Britain's  steel  output  increased 
from  2,000,000  to  5,800,000  tons,  Germany  from 
1,094,000  tons  to  4,849,000  tons,  and  that  of  the 
United  States  from  1,655,000  to  15,000,000  tons. 
Thus  it  may  be  seen  how  far  England  has  fallen  be- 
hind Germany  and  America  even  in  her  favorite  in- 
dustry. 

But  far  worse  for  England  than  the  decay  of  her 
commerce  is  the  dreadful  deterioration  of  English 
manhood  during  the  past  century.  This  is  all  due  to 
her  false  system  of  civilization.  England  has  built 
up  her  civilization  on  an  unstable  foundation  and  now 
it  is  tottering  to  the  ground.  With  a  total  disregard 
of  God  and  of  religion,  she  has  made  temporal  pros- 
perity the  basis  of  her  civilization,  and  taught  her 
citizens  that  the  one  aim  in  life  worth  living  for  was  to 
become  rich  and  amass  wealth.  As  a  result  there  was 
a  grand  rush  among  farmers  and  laborers  to  with- 
draw from  the  pure  air  of  the  country,  to  abandon  the 
healthful  exercise  of  cultivating  the  soil,  and  to  crowd 
into  the  cities,  so  that  they  might  become  mer- 
chants, traders,  and  business  men,  in  order  that  thus 
they  might  become  rich  quickly.  The  consequence  was 
that  the  country  was  deserted,  the  cities  became  con- 
gested, and  people  were  forced  to  Uve  together  like 
animals  in  a  stable,  as  we  have  observed  in  a  previous 
chapter. 


a6o  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Being  thus  deprived  of  fresh  air  and  wholesome  ex- 
ercise, no  wonder  that  the  manhood  of  England  has 
suffered  a  notable  deterioration!  The  Royal  Com- 
mission on  Physical  Training  in  its  recent  investiga- 
tions discovered  some  startUng  facts  which  must 
serve  as  a  rude  awakening  to  British  statesmen.  Ac- 
cording to  this  committee,  during  the  last  thirty  years, 
the  English  people  have  greatly  deteriorated  in  phys- 
ical constitution  and  the  cities  have  bred  an  anaemic, 
degenerate  class  who  can  no  longer  fill  the  places  of 
the  Englishmen  of  former  days.  The  average  Eng- 
lishman of  the  present  day  is  greatly  inferior  in  stature, 
in  weight,  and  in  physique,  even  to  those  of  a  single 
generation  ago.  In  1889,  the  proportion  of  men  in 
the  English  army  measuring  less  than  five  feet,  five 
inches  in  height  was  106  per  1,000,  in  1899  it  was  132 
per  1,000.  In  1889  the  proportion  of  men  measur- 
ing less  than  33  inches  around  the  chest  was  17  per 
1,000,  in  1899  it  was  23  per  1,000.  In  1874  only  159 
per  1,000  weighed  less  than  120  poimds,  but  in  1900 
the  proportion  was  301  per  1,000. 

Do  not  these  figures  tell  only  too  plainly  a  dreadful 
tale  of  degeneracy  in  the  manhood  of  England? 
What  wonder  that  Englishmen  of  to-day  have  no 
longer  the  courage,  the  bravery,  or  the  physical  en- 
durance of  their  forefathers,  who  built  up  the  British 
Empire !  It  was  only  lately,  during  the  Boer  War,  that 
this  dreadful  truth  was  brought  thoroughly  home  to 
the  mind  of  England.  Colonel  Blake  assures  us  that 
besides  the  colonial  troops,  the  only  Enghsh  soldiers 
who  were  any  credit  to  their  country  were  a  few  bri- 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  261 

gades  of  yeomanry,  who  may  be  called  the  relics  of 
the  old  English  farmers.  The  rest  of  the  British  sol- 
diers were  a  class  of  degenerates  and  one  Boer  could 
put  to  flight  from  two  to  ten  of  them.  EngHsh  states- 
men must  have  then  reahzed  how  true  were  the  words 
of  Goldsmith: 

**I11  fares  the  land,  to  hastening  ills  a  prey, 
Where  wealth  accumulates,  and  men  decay; 
Princes  and  lords  may  flourish,  or  may  fade — 
A  breath  may  make  them,  as  a  breath  has  made; 
But  a  bold  peasantry,  their  country's  pride. 
When  once  destroyed,  can  never  be  supplied." 

In  what  a  dreadful  state  of  physical  weakness  and 
decay  must  England  be,  when  a  mere  handful  of  Boer 
farmers  could  give  her  such  a  fright  as  she  has  not  ex- 
perienced since  the  time  of  Napoleon  I.!  During 
her  war  in  South  Africa,  many  comic  American  Jour- 
nals had  some  very  amusing  cartoons  representing 
John  Bull  as  a  poor  sick  man  lying  helpless  on  his 
bed,  with  all  the  nations  of  Europe  assembled  as  phy- 
sicians in  solemn  consultation  around  his  couch.  One, 
after  feehng  of  his  pulse,  pronounced  his  disease  pal- 
pitation of  the  heart,  another  declared  that  it  was  a  case 
of  tuberculosis,  a  third  asserted  that  in  his  opinion 
it  was  a  bad  case  of  valvular  heart  trouble,  but  the 
majority  of  the  doctors  diagnosed  it  as  a  complica- 
tion of  diseases. 

But,  as  John  Bull  was  a  hardy  old  man,  he  finally 
rallied  from  his  infirmity,  though  with  his  constitu- 


262  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

tion  completely  shattered.  If  the  strain  had  been  a 
little  more  severe,  if  instead  of  being  confronted  by 
the  Boers,  England  had  been  arrayed  against  the 
Russians  or  the  Japanese,  where  would  she  be  to-day  ? 
John  Bull  was  very  wise  indeed  not  to  go  to  war  with 
Russia  but  to  push  that  young,  vigorous  giant  Japan 
in  his  place ;  for  it  may  truly  be  said  that  poor  England 
has  a  great  many  maladies,  anyone  of  which  must 
finally  prove  fatal,  but  worst  of  all,  three  valves 
of  her  heart  are  affected.  We  refer  to  her  three  dread- 
ful vices  of  intemperance,  immorality,  and  infanti- 
cide. As  we  have  observed  already,  60,000  people 
die  of  intoxication  in  England  every  year,  she  has 
600,000  habitual  criminals,  and  over  a  thousand  chil- 
dren are  murdered  in  Britain  annually  for  the  insur- 
ance money.  Yes,  and  these  unnatural  parents 
would  coin  their  children's  blood  into  money  and  sell 
their  very  souls  if  they  could  in  order  to  get  rich. 
But  how  can  England  long  endure  such  a  dreadful 
strain  as  that,  especially  when  we  take  into  consider- 
ation that  her  birth  rate  is  growing  low^er  every  year? 
In  1866  the  birth  rate  in  England  was  35  per  1,000; 
but  in  1 89 1  it  had  fallen  to  31 ;  in  1897  it  had  sunk 
to  29,  and  in  1903  to  28  per  1,000. 

If  the  English  were  bent  on  overthrowing  their 
empire,  they  could  discover  no  more  effective  way 
than  that  which  they  are  pursuing  at  present.  When 
we  see  a  man  living  riotously,  wasting  his  strength 
in  dissipation  and  debauchery,  no  matter  how  strong 
he  is,  no  matter  what  a  fine  physique  he  possesses, 
we  know  that  before  very  long  that  prodigal  is  bound 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  363 

to  collapse.  So,  likewise,  when  we  behold  a  nation 
squandering  its  powers,  we  realize  that  it  is  soon  about 
to  fall. 

It  is  thus  that  the  English  have  been  undermining 
the  very  foundation  of  the  British  Empire,  by  destroy- 
ing the  family;  for  the  family  is  the  foundation  of  the 
State,  and  once  the  foundation  is  undermined  the 
whole  civil  edifice  falls  to  the  ground.  There  was  an 
old  proverb  among  the  Pagans:  "Whom  the  Gods 
would  destroy  they  first  make  mad."  So  for  turning 
away  from  the  true  faith  and  forsaking  his  holy  relig- 
ion, as  St.  Paul  says  in  his  epistle  to  the  Romans: 
"God  gave  (the  English  people)  up  to  the  desires  of 
their  heart  and  delivered  them  up  to  a  reprobate 
sense.  So  they  became  vain  in  their  thoughts  and 
their  foolish  heart  w^as  darkened,  for  professing  them- 
selves to  be  wise  they  became  fools."  Indeed  the 
worst  enemy  of  the  British  Empire,  the  greatest  dy- 
namiter, or  the  fiercest  anarchist  could  not  do  it  half 
the  injury  which  the  English  themselves  are  inflict- 
ing upon  it  by  the  dreadful  sin  of  infanticide.  Gib- 
bon, who  wrote  the  "History  of  the  Decline  and  Fall 
of  the  Roman  Empire"  tells  us  that  the  immediate 
cause  of  the  downfall  of  that  great  empire  was  the 
crime  of  infanticide;  because  on  account  of  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  family,  Rome  was  no  longer  able  to  main- 
tain a  native  army  in  the  field  to  defend  her  vast  pos- 
sessions. Consequently  she  was  obliged  to  hire 
strangers  to  fight  her  battles, — but  when  a  nation  has 
to  have  recourse  to  mercenaries  to  defend  her,  then 
her  hour  has  come. 


964  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

If  the  English  continue  a  few  years  more  murder- 
ing their  children,  they,  too,  will  have  to  rely  upon 
mercenaries  to  wage  war  for  them,  and  then  perhaps 
in  our  own  day  some  scribe  may  write  the  "History 
of  the  DecHne  and  Fall  of  the  British  Empire."  But 
as  the  proverb  says:  "England's  difficulty  is  Ireland's 
opportunity."  No  Irishman  would  like  to  see  the 
downfall  of  England  or  wish  her  evil,  if  she  would 
only  do  justice  to  Ireland.  But  if  Erin's  freedom 
can  be  procured  in  no  other  way  than  by  the  over- 
throw of  the  British  Empire,  very  few  Irishmen  would 
consider  it  a  sin  to  say:  "God  speed  it!"  This  natu- 
rally suggests  to  us  the  question  so  frequently  heard: 
"Will  Ireland  ever  be  free?" 

A  great  many  good,  honest  Irishmen  and  Irish- 
Americans  despair  of  Ireland  ever  regaining  her  in- 
dependence. They  declare  that  she  has  been  strug- 
gUng  for  freedom  now  during  hundreds  of  years, 
but  in  vain.  So  the  Irish  people  would  be  much 
more  prosperous  and  happy  if  they  stopped  their 
agitation  and  settled  down  to  business  Hke  the  Eng- 
lish. 

I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that  the  Irish  would  be 
far  better  situated  from  a  worldly  standpoint  if  they 
had  lain  down  to  England  long  ago;  but  who  would 
praise  them  the  more  for  their  servility?  On  the 
contrary,  who  does  not  admire  a  Uberty-loving  people. 
Did  not  the  American  patriot,  Patrick  Henry,  render 
his  name  immortal  by  that  magnificent  outburst  of 
patriotism:  "Give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death"? 
It  is  quite  true  that  Ireland  hai  been  battling  for  £re«- 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  265 

dom  for  centuries;  but  should  we  not  applaud  her  the 
more  for  her  unconquerable  spirit  ?  It  was  only  after 
a  constant  warfare  of  seven  hundred  years  that  the 
Spaniards  expelled  the  Moors  from  Spain  and  re- 
gained the  independence  of  their  country.  Yet  Ire- 
land has  been  fighting  England  for  only  a  similar 
period  and  there  are  many  indications  that  her  ef- 
forts will  soon  be  crowned  with  success. 

It  is  manifestly  unfair  therefore  to  allege,  as  some 
well-meaning  people  do,  that  the  agitation  for  Home 
Rule  is  a  money-making  scheme  of  the  Irish  members 
of  Parliament,  who  want  to  make  an  easy  living  at 
the  expense  of  their  credulous  countrymen,  and  to  be- 
come rich  from  the  American  contributions  to  the 
Irish  Parliamentary  fund.  In  fact,  in  some  quarters 
it  is  asserted  that  the  Irish  in  America  have  sent  over 
to  Ireland  enough  money  to  purchase  the  whole  island 
four  times  over. 

I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that,  just  as  in  all  other 
great  political  and  social  movements,  there  are  some 
crafty  hypocrites  who  are  agitating  for  Irish  Home 
Rule,  not  through  love  of  country  but  for  their  own 
selfish  purposes.  Nevertheless,  it  is  equally  certain 
that  the  great  majority  of  Irish  parliamentarians  are 
honest,  sincere  men,  many  of  whom  have  proved 
their  devotion  to  Ireland  by  suffering  long  imprison- 
ment for  her  sake.  Where  can  we  find  a  better  test 
than  that  of  the  true  patriot? 

It  is  likewise  true  that  the  Irish  in  America  have 
contributed  a  great  deal  to  the  Irish  parliamentary 
fund,  yet,  without  at  all  discrediting  their  generosity, 


j66  the  celt  above  THE  SAXON 

it  may  truthfully  be  said  that  the  amount  which  they 
have  subscribed  has  been  grossly  exaggerated.  In 
fact,  poor  Ireland  herself,  poverty-stricken  though 
she  is,  has  contributed  more  than  the  whole  United 
States.  No  doubt  it  required  all  the  resources  of 
the  Irish  leaders  to  provide  for  the  poor,  evicted 
tenants  in  Ireland,  to  maintain  an  active  army  of 
Irish  parliamentarians  in  constant  attendance  in  the 
House  of  Conamons  to  fight  Ireland's  battles,  and  to 
conduct  an  active  campaign  against  Irish  landlords, 
until  by  the  recent  Land  Purchase  Act,  landlordism 
was  practically  abolished  in  Ireland.  All  this  has 
been  done  by  peaceful  agitation.  One  step  more, 
and  Ireland  will  have  Home  Rule! 

Nevertheless,  I  am  firmly  convinced  that  the  Irish 
can  never  win  their  complete  independence  except 
by  the  sword.  No  nation  that  was  enslaved  ever 
regained  its  freedom  except  by  war.  It  was  thus 
that  Holland  threw  off  the  yoke  of  Spain,  Greece 
liberated  herself  from  the  shackles  of  Turkey,  and 
the  United  States  burst  the  bonds  of  England.  It 
may  seem  strange  to  have  a  priest,  who  is  supposed 
to  be  a  man  of  peace,  talking  of  war,  but  Our  Saviour 
Himself,  the  Prince  of  Peace,  once  told  His  disciples 
to  sell  their  very  coats  and  purchase  a  sword.  I  do 
not  believe  that  God  ever  intended  faithful  Ireland 
to  be  forever  the  slave  of  perfidious  Britain.  As  the 
poet  has  so  well  said: 

"Be  sure  the  great  God  never  planned 
For  slumbering  slaves  a  home  so  grand." 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  267 

There  is  no  reason  in  the  world,  at  the  present  day, 
why  the  Irish  people  could  not  recover  their  indepen- 
dence. As  we  have  already  observed,  John  Bull  has 
heart  failure,  but  Erin's  heart  is  sound,  for  the  Irish 
people  still  look  on  the  family  as  a  gift  from  God,  and 
the  family  is  the  foundation  of  the  state.  It  is  true 
the  population  of  England  is  35,000,000,  whilst  Ire- 
land has  now  only  4,500,000 — a  mere  handful  in  com- 
parison. Yet  when  a  man  has  heart  disease,  the 
bigger  his  body  the  more  unwieldly  he  becomes.  On 
the  contrary,  we  know  how  marvellous  are  the  recup- 
erative powers  of  the  Irish  race;  for  in  the  time  of 
Cromwell  the  population  of  Ireland  was  reduced  to 
500,000;  but  two  centuries  later,  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  famine,  in  1847,  it  had  increased  to  8,000,000. 
In  all  hkehhood,  the  Land  Purchase  Bill  will  accom- 
pHsh  wonders  to  regenerate  Ireland,  and  it  would 
not  be  astonishing  if,  in  the  next  twenty  years,  owing 
to  emigration  from  America  and  natural  increase, 
the  population  of  Ireland  would  be  doubled. 

Yet,  when  we  consider  that  the  population  of  Lon- 
don alone  is  greater  than  that  of  all  Ireland,  it  is 
scarcely  possible  that  the  remnant  of  the  Irish  race 
still  remaining  in  their  native  land  can  ever  recover 
their  freedom  unaided.  They  must  have  the  assist- 
ance of  their  kinsmen  abroad.  The  Irish  in  America 
are  the  only  ones  who  are  in  a  position  to-day  to  free 
their  native  land.  All  that  they  need  is  the  oppor- 
tunity and  that  will  come,  if  they  only  watch  for  it, 
perhaps  sooner  than  they  expect. 

England's  sun  is  setting,  her  day  is  past,  and  her 


268  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

night  is  approaching.  Two  great  clouds  are  now- 
hanging  over  her — Russia  in  the  East  and  the  United 
States  in  the  West,  and  between  the  two  of  them  she 
will  be  ground  to  powder  some  day.  The  time  may 
not  be  far  distant  when  Russia  will  seize  upon  India, 
the  United  States  will  annnex  Canada,  Austraha  will 
declare  its  independence,  and  then  England  will  be 
like  a  withered  tree  that  has  been  stripped  of  its 
branches. 

That  is  the  real  secret  why  England  has  such  a 
dread  of  the  Russian  Bear  and  embroiled  him  in  the 
present  war  in  the  East  in  order  to  distract  his  attention 
from  India.  That  is  also  the  secret  why  she  wants  to  be 
on  such  good  terms  with  the  United  States  and  wishes 
to  form  an  alHance  with  her,  so  that  she  may  keep 
her  hands  off  Canada.  This  is  the  very  best  evidence 
that  England  is  fully  conscious  of  her  own  weakness. 
Whilst  she  was  young  and  vigorous  she  never  sought 
for  alHances,  but  boasted  of  her  "splendid  isolation." 
However,  the  late  Boer  War  showed  her  up  terribly 
in  all  her  feebleness  and  decay.  So  now  she  would 
like  to  lean  on  the  strong  arm  of  Young  America. 
But  if  only  our  "Enghsh  cousins"  knew  how  their 
efforts  at  alliance  are  caricatured  in  the  American 
press,  they  would  cease  all  talk  forever  of  an  alliance 
with  the  United  States.  Only  a  few  days  ago,  there 
was  a  famous  cartoon  of  this  nature  in  The  Boston 
Herald.  It  represented  King  Edward  VII.  tickhng 
Uncle  Sam  with  the  feather  of  English  flattery,  say- 
ing: "Your  navy  is  great,"  but  Uncle  Sam's  reply 
was:  "He  thinks  he'll  tickle  me  into  an  alliance  with 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  269 

him."  So  Americans  are  now  convinced  that  Eng- 
land would  have  to  be  kicked  into  a  quarrel  with 
them,  because  she  knows  what  would  happen  if  she 
came  into  colHsion  with  the  United  States. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  morally  certain  that  two  great 
naval  powers  like  America  and  Great  Britain  will 
sooner  or  later  come  into  conflict  over  Canada,  the 
Panama  Canal,  the  partition  of  China  or  some  other 
bone  of  contention.  Then  the  United  States  navy 
will  knock  all  the  British  navy  into  fragments,  for 
the  American  ships  are  all  modern  vessels,  whilst  the 
English  navy  will  be  proved  as  degenerate  as  her 
army.  The  United  States  is  undoubtedly  the  only 
power  that  has  the  ships  and  the  resources  to  wrest 
the  command  of  the  sea  from  England.  Sometimes 
we  find  fault  because  the  United  States  is  making 
such  an  effort  to  build  up  her  navy,  but  that  may  be 
the  very  means  which  the  Providence  of  God  is  de- 
signing to  scourge  England  for  all  the  injustice  and 
robbery  that  she  has  inflicted  on  Ireland  and  all  the 
innocent  blood  she  has  shed. 

Thus  Ireland's  opportunity  may  come  before  she 
is  aware  of  it.  If  a  man  Uke  Roosevelt  is  then  in  the 
presidential  chair  he  will  know  well  that  the  best  way 
to  fight  England  is  to  send  an  army  of  50,000  Irish- 
men into  Canada  to  strike  a  blow  at  their  old  enemy. 
After  the  English  navy  has  been  defeated  at  sea,  he 
will  send  50,000  more  Irish-Americans  to  kindle  the 
flames  of  revolt  in  Ireland  and  keep  the  EngUsh  busy 
there.  Once  the  English  navy  was  destroyed,  England 
could  not  hold  Ireland  in  subjection  for  twenty-four 


270  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

^  ...1 

hours,  and  the  whole  British  Empire  would  come 
crumbhng  to  the  ground.  Then  would  be  fulfilled 
for  England  the  prophetic  words  of  St.  John  concern- 
ing the  fall  of  Rome,  Apoc.  XVIII. -2: 

"(England)  the  great  is  fallen,  is  fallen  and  is  be- 
come the  habitation  of  devils  and  the  hold  of  every 
unclean  spirit,  and  the  hold  of  every  unclean  and 
hateful  bird." 

"And  I  heard  another  voice  from  heaven  saying: 
Go  out  from  her  My  people  that  you  be  not  partakers 
of  her  sins,  and  that  you  receive  not  of  her  plagues; 
for  her  sins  have  reached  into  heaven  and  the  Lord 
hath  remembered  her  iniquities." 

"Render  to  her  as  she  also  hath  rendered  to  you; 
and  double  unto  her  double  according  to  her  works; 
in  the  cup  wherein  she  hath  mingled,  mingle  ye  double 
unto  her." 

"As  much  as  she  hath  glorified  herself  and  lived  in 
delicacies,  so  much  torment  and  sorrow  give  ye  to 
her;  because  she  saith  in  her  heart:  I  sit  a  queen  and 
am  no  widow,  and  sorrow  I  shall  not  see." 

"Therefore  shall  her  plague  come  in  one  day, 
death  and  mourning  and  famine,  and  she  shalt  be 
burnt  with  the  fire,  because  God  is  strong  Who  shall 
judge  her." 

"And  the  kings  of  the  earth  shall  weep  over  her 
when  they  shall  see  the  smoke  of  her  burning,  stand- 
ing afar  off  for  fear  of  her  torments  saying:  *Alas! 
alas!  that  great  city  (London),  that  mighty  city;  for 
in  one  hour  is  thy  judgment  come.' " 

"And  the  merchants  of  the  earth  shall  weep  and 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  271 

mourn  for  her  saying:  Alas!  alas!  that  great  city 
which  was  clothed  in  fine  Hnen  and  purple  and  scarlet 
and  was  gilt  with  gold  and  precious  stones,  and  pearls, 
for  in  one  hour  are  so  great  riches  come  to  nought." 

''And  every  ship-master  and  all  marines  that  sail 
the  sea  stood  afar  off  and  cried,  seeing  the  place  of 
her  burning,  saying:  What  city  is  like  to  this  great  city  ? 
And  they  cast  dust  upon  their  heads  and  cried  weep- 
ing and  mourning,  saying:  Alas!  alas!  that  great  city 
wherein  all  were  made  rich,  that  had  ships  at  sea  by 
reason  of  her  prices,  for  in  one  hour  she  is  made  deso- 
late." 

"And  the  voice  of  harpers  and  of  musicians  shall  be 
found  no  more  in  her,  and  the  voice  of  the  bridegroom 
and  the  voice  of  the  bride  shall  be  heard  no  more  in 
her,  for  in  her  was  found  all  the  blood  of  saints  and 
of  all  that  were  slain  upon  the  earth." 

It  is  only  when  England  is  thus  thoroughly  hum- 
bled that  she  will  return  to  the  true  faith— the  faith 
of  her  fathers.  Some  authors  claim  that  she  will 
never  be  Catholic  again,  because  she  once  threw  away 
the  true  faith,  which  is  a  gift  of  God,  and  God's  graces 
once  rejected  are  never  offered  again.  But,  in  reality, 
she  did  not  cast  away  the  faith,  it  was  torn  from  her 
forcibly  by  Henry  VIII.  and  Queen  Ehzabeth.  In- 
deed it  was  only  by  a  desperate  struggle  that  it  was 
wrenched  away  from  her,  after  many  English  martyrs 
had  lain  down  their  Hfe  in  its  defence.  Consequently 
there  is  still  hope  for  England,  because  "the  blood  of 
martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  Church."  It  is  not  surpris- 
ing therefore,  that  during  the  past  century  there  has 


272  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

been  a  marked  tendency  among  leading  Englishmen 
to  return  to  the  bosom  of  the  Catholic  Church.  It 
is  well  known  how  the  Oxford  Movement  brought 
into  the  true  fold  some  of  the  brightest,  intellectual 
lights  in  all  England,  such  as  Cardinal  Wiseman, 
Cardinal  Newman,  Cardinal  Manning,  Father  Faber, 
and  Henry  George  Ward.  This  started  a  regular  ex- 
odus of  converts  from  Anghcanism  to  Catholicity,  so 
that  the  English  Church  became  alarmed,  fearing 
that  she  would  be  entirely  deserted.  Accordingly,  she 
endeavored  to  make  people  beheve  that  she  herself 
was  the  true  Church  by  stealing  the  livery  of  the 
CathoHc  Church,  by  introducing  the  Confessional  and 
a  blasphemous  imitation  of  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the 
Mass,  by  caUing  her  ministers  priests,  a  name  which 
she  once  hated,  and  by  counterfeiting  all  the  exter- 
nals of  CathoHcity  as  closely  as  possible.  But  all 
her  artifices  were  in  vain,  for  the  tendency  of  Eng- 
lishmen Romewards  is  still  undiminished,  and  only  a 
few  years  ago  Lord  HaUfax,  of  England,  advocated  a 
wholesale  return  of  Anglicans  to  the  Catholic  Church. 
However,  there  is  one  great  obstacle  to  the  return 
of  the  whole  British  nation  to  the  CathoHc  religion — 
that  is  pride.  But  how  could  the  tiny  mustard  seed 
of  the  true  faith  take  root  on  the  barren  rock  of  pride  ? 
The  Enghsh  are  still  so  pufi"ed  up  with  pride  by  reason 
of  their  great  navy,  their  large  army,  and  their  mighty 
empire  that  all  the  missionaries  in  the  world  could 
not  convert  them.  Indeed,  they  would  not  listen  to  the 
Voice  of  God  Himself.  Wherefore  the  Lord  will  de- 
stroy all  these  vanities  which  have  stolen  from  Him  the 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  273 

hearts  of  His  people;  and  then  England  will  realize 
the  truth  of  the  words  which  the  prophet  Isaias  fore- 
told twenty-seven  centuries  ago,  concerning  the  de- 
struction of  Tyre:  ''Howl  ye  ships  of  the  sea,  for  the 
house  is  destroyed  from  whence  they  were  wont  to 
come!  Howl,  ye  inhabitants  of  the  island!  Who 
hath  taken  this  counsel  against  (England),  that  was 
formerly  crowned,  whose  merchants  were  princes, 
and  her  traders  the  nobles  of  the  earth?  The  Lord 
of  hosts  hath  designed  it  to  pull  down  the  pride  of 
all  glory  and  bring  to  disgrace  all  the  glorious  ones 
of  the  earth." 

When  England  has  been  thus  thoroughly  humbled 
in  the  dust  then  she  will  begin  to  commune  with  her- 
self like  the  prodigal  son,  saying:  "I  will  arise  and  go 
to  my  father,  and  say  to  him:  Father,  I  have  sinned 
against  heaven  and  before  thee:  I  am  not  worthy  to 
be  called  thy  child :  make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired  serv- 
ants." Thus  will  England  one  day  return  in  contri- 
tion and  penitence  to  the  arms  of  the  true  Church, 
bewailing  the  day  that  she  allowed  Henry  VIII.  and 
the  reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century  to  tear  her  from 
the  center  of  Christian  unity.  Then  will  Holy  Mother 
the  Church  rejoice,  and  kill  the  fatted  calf,  saying: 
"Let  us  eat  and  make  merry,  because  my  child  was 
dead  and  is  come  to  life  again,  she  was  lost  and  is 
found." 

But  the  great  question  for  Irishmen  to  answer  is: 
Will  they  be  prepared  to  take  advantage  of  England's 
humiliation  and  win  Hberty  and  independence  for 
themselves?    They    should,    therefore,    everywhere 


374  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

organize,  at  home  and  abroad,  in  expectation  of  the 
great  crisis,  which  undoubtedly  is  fast  approaching. 
They  must  not  remain  passive  and  expect  God  to  free 
their  country,  for  the  Lord  generally  allows  nature  to 
take  its  course,  and  entrusts  the  destinies  of  people 
to  their  own  hands.  Neither  should  they  wait  till 
Russia,  France,  or  America  will  set  them  free,  for 
then  the  nation  which  liberated  them  might  seize  their 
country  for  itself  as  a  reward  of  its  labor,  as  the 
United  States  retained  the  Philippines.  But  Ireland 
is  not  looking  for  a  change  of  masters.  A  bigoted 
Vermont  farmer  might  be  just  as  bad  a  governor  as 
any  English  Viceroy  Ireland  ever  was,  and  might 
torture  the  Irish  priests  with  the  infamous  "Water 
Cure"  as  Padro  Augustinio  was  barbarously  murdered 
in  the  PhiHppines,  though  to  the  eternal  shame  of  the 
United  States,  his  murderers  have  not  yet  been  pun- 
ished for  it. 

What  the  poet  said  centuries  ago  is  just  as  true  to- 
day as  then:  ''Who  would  be  free  themselves  must 
strike  the  blow."  But  a  battle  for  freedom  requires 
men,  money,  ships,  arms,  and  ammunition.  There 
are  plenty  of  loyal  hearts  throbbing  with  love  for 
dear,  old  Erin,  and  all  that  their  possessors  require 
is  the  necessary  military  and  naval  skill.  But  this 
may  be  easily  procured  in  the  State  militia  and  the 
United  States  navy.  Every  Irishman  or  Irish-Amer- 
ican who  is  desirous  to  be  serviceable  hereafter  to 
the  land  of  his  fathers  should  join  one  or  the  other 
of  these  great  training  schools  for  a  year  or  two.  The 
Hibernians  and  all  other  Irish  societies  should  also 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  275 

form  themselves  into  one  great  federation,  with  a  cen- 
tral council  and  a  central  treasury.  An  excellent  plan 
to  raise  funds  would  be  to  have  every  division  of 
Hibernians  curtail  its  expenses  for  refreshments  at  its 
weekly  meetings.  No  reasonable  person  would  find 
fault  because  the  Irish  have  refreshments  at  their 
assemblies,  if  they  were  only  served  with  moderation 
and  not  on  the  Lord's  day.  The  Hibernians  have  just 
as  much  right  to  do  so  as  the  Germans,  the  English, 
and  the  Americans.  Yet,  if  they  saved  up  every  week 
for  patriotic  purposes  just  half  of  what  they  expend  for 
refreshments  at  their  club-rooms,  they  would  have  a 
full  treasury  when  the  next  opportunity  comes  to  strike 
a  blow  for  Ireland.  People  who  have  money  may 
purchase  arms  and  ammunition  at  any  time.  The 
South  American  Republics  have  likewise  warships 
for  sale  at  all  times.  If  the  Irish  people  had  been 
only  thus  organized  during  the  late  Boer  War,  what 
an  excellent  opportunity  they  had  to  strike  down  the 
oppressor  of  their  native  land,  to  avenge  the  wrongs 
of  their  fathers,  to  put  the  Celt  above  the  Saxon  and 
the  green  above  the  red!  But,  notwithstanding  all 
the  talk  and  bluster  of  the  Clan-na-Gaels  and  the 
Physical  Force  Society,  they  never  lifted  a  hand. 
They  made  no  attempt  to  prevent  shiploads  of  Amer- 
ican mules  from  being  transported  over  to  South  Africa, 
to  trample  down  the  Hberties  of  the  Boers,  and  they 
even  permitted  an  English  camp  to  be  established 
near  New  Orleans  in  violation  of  American  neutrality. 
The  trouble  was  that  there  was  no  national  organiza- 
tion, no  responsible  leaders,  and  no  money  in  the  treas,' 


276  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

ury.  Consequently  the  Irish  missed  a  grand  chance 
to  humble  their  ancient  foe. 

Let  us  hope  that  the  next  time  England  gets  into 
difficulty  they  will  be  better  prepared,  and  have  their 
plan  of  campaign  all  mapped  out.  But  of  two  things 
they  must  beware.  In  the  first  place,  they  must  be 
careful  not  to  violate  the  laws  of  the  United  States, 
for  it  would  not  be  fair  to  introduce  the  quarrels  of 
the  Old  World  into  this  land  of  liberty  which  welcomes 
to  her  arms  the  oppressed  of  all  nations.  Besides, 
any  breach  of  international  law  would  call  down  upon 
it  the  wrath  of  Uncle  Sam.  In  the  second  place,  the 
Irish  leaders  must  be  cautious  not  to  allow  their  plans 
to  fall  into  the  hands  of  EngHsh  spies,  who  pretend 
to  be  patriots,  like  the  infamous  Le  Caron  during  the 
late  Fenian  invasion  of  Canada.  To  prevent  such  a 
fatahty,  it  would  be  an  excellent  plan  to  have  every 
Irish  society  graded  like  the  Knights  of  Columbus  and 
to  admit  to  the  higher  degrees  only  the  tried  and  true. 

We  may  rest  assured  that  it  will  not  be  long  before 
the  Irish  will  have  another  opportunity  to  strike  a 
blow  at  their  traditional  enemy,  for  a  nation  as  grasp- 
ing and  belligerent  as  England  is  certain  to  be  in 
trouble  soon  again.  Even  now  it  would  not  be  aston- 
ishing if  she  should  come  to  blows  with  Russia,  be- 
cause the  Russian  fleet  fired  upon  her  fishermen,  mis- 
taking them  for  Japanese.  Perhaps  before  we  are 
aware  of  it,  Russia  and  her  ally,  France,  may  be  ar- 
rayed against  England  and  Japan.  That  would 
give  Ireland  an  opportunity  to  regain  her  indepen- 
dence such  as  was  not  presented  to  her  since  the  War 


THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON  277 

of  the  Roses.  Indeed  there  is  an  Irish  prophecy  that 
it  is  Russia  which  will  finally  free  Ireland  by  weaken- 
ing England.  Accordingly,  every  Irishman  and  Irish- 
American  should  be  ready  at  a  moment's  notice,  like 
the  Minute  Men  of  America,  in  1775,  to 

"Unfurl  Erin's  flag!  fling  its  folds  to  the  breeze! 
Let  it  float  o'er  the  land,  let  it  flash  o'er  the  seas! 
Lift  it  out  of  the  dust — let  it  wave  as  of  yore, 
When  its  chiefs  with  their  clans  stood  around  it  and 

swore 
That  never!  no!  never!  while  God  gave  them  life 
And  they  had  an  arm  and  a  sword  for  the  strife, 
That  never!  no!  never!  that  banner  should  yield, 
As  long  as  the  heart  of  a  Celt  was  its  shield ; 
While  the  hand  of  a  Celt  had  a  weapon  to  wield, 
And  his  last  drop  of  blood  was  unshed  on  the  field. 

Lift  it  up!  wave  it  high!  His  as  bright  as  of  old! 

Not  a  stain  on  its  green,  not  a  blot  on  its  gold, 

Tho'  the  woes  and  the  wrongs  of  three  hundred  long 

years 
Have  drenched  Erin's  Sunburst  with  blood  and  with 

tears! 
Though  the  clouds  of  oppression  enshroud  it  in  gloom, 
And  around  it  the  thunders  of  tyranny  boom. 
Look  aloft!  look  aloft!  lo!  the  clouds  drifting  by 
There's  a  gleam  through  the  gloom,  there's  a  light  in 

the  sky, 
'Tis  the  sunburst  resplendent — far  flashing  on  high 
Erin's  dark  night  is  waning,  her  day-dawn  is  nigh! 


278  THE  CELT  ABOVE  THE  SAXON 

Lift  it  up  1  lift  it  up  1  the  old  Banner  of  Green ! 
The  blood  of  its  sons  has  but  brightened  its  sheen; 
What  though  the  t)Tant  has  trampled  it  down, 
Are  its  folds  not  emblazoned  with  deeds  of  renown? 
What  though  for  ages  it  droops  in  the  dust, 
Shall  it  droop  thus  forever?    No!  No!  God  is  just! 
Take  it  up!  take  it  up!  from  the  tyrant's  foul  tread, 
Let  him  tear  the  Green  Flag — we  will  snatch  its  last 

shred, 
And  beneath  it  we'll  bleed,  as  our  forefathers  bled, 
And  we'll  vow  by  the  dust  in  the  graves  of  our  dead, 
And  we'll  swear  by  the  blood  which  the  Briton  has 

shed. 
And  we'll  vow  by  the  wrecks  which  through  Erin  he 

spread, 
And  we'll  swear  by  the  thousands  who  famished  un- 
fed. 
Died  down  in  the  ditches,  wild-howling  for  bread. 
And  we'll  vow  by  our  heroes  whose  spirits  have  fled. 
And  we'll  swear  by  the  bones  in  each  coffinless  bed 
That  we'll  battle  the  Briton  through  danger  and  dread; 
That  we'll  cling  to  the  cause  which  we  glory  to  wed, 
'Till  the  gleam  of  our  steel  and  the  shock  of  our  lead 
Shall  prove  to  our  foe  that  we  meant  what  we  said — 
That  we'll  Uft  up  the  green,  and  we'll  tear  down  the 
red!" 


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